We Do Not Raise the Issue of Getting Rid of Them, but We Propose the Institute of Honorable Departure: Badasyan

In the permanent commission on state-legal issues of the National Assembly, discussions have started on the draft law to amend the constitutional law on the Constitutional Court, which gives Constitutional Court judges the opportunity to retire early while preserving social guarantees. Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan presented:

“The draft law to amend the constitutional law on the Constitutional Court proposes to add new parts to Article 85. The essence is that if a Constitutional Court judge, who has been appointed to the Constitutional Court and has been serving in the position of a Constitutional Court judge before this law comes into force, resigns by January 31, 2020, their powers will cease after resignation, and until the age prescribed by the constitution for holding that office is reached, they will receive a pension equal to the official pay scale and supplement they received at the time of resignation. This is another initiative by the government aimed at resolving the crisis surrounding the Constitutional Court. The regulations we proposed have been sent to the Venice Commission and have received a legal assessment. They have been sent as part of a package of amendments to the Judicial Code; after that, we decided that the early retirement portion should be brought to the National Assembly through a separate legislative initiative. International experience has been studied again,” the minister presented.

He added that the existing constitutional law on the Constitutional Court already includes a mechanism for early retirement and referred to international practices, especially citing the approaches of Russia and Georgia. He added: “You have seen that in the Russian Federation there is the term 'honorable departure,' which we also propose to address the low level of public trust in the judicial system; we are not raising the issue of insulting individuals or getting rid of them, but we are establishing the institute of honorable departure.”