Hrayr Tovmasyan's Legal Team Issues Statement

The legal team of the President of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasyan, has issued a statement in which it is stated: “URGENT The statement from the legal team of the President of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasyan, was broadcast during today’s edition of the Public Television's ‘News’, showcasing a report created in an artistic style regarding President Hrayr Tovmasyan, which is a clear example of presenting unreliable information to the public, an obvious biased representation of ‘evidence’ in the criminal case, and a cynical violation of the presumption of innocence. Such gross violations using mass media are even more condemnable when they occur by the Public Television, funded by taxpayer money, which did not deem it necessary to present the position of the defense while preparing the report that is evidently a political order. Furthermore, it is unclear what legal procedure allowed the Public Television to access this ‘information’ when the Special Investigative Service has never made any public clarification regarding the charges presented in this criminal case.

Considering that the publication of preliminary investigation data in this criminal case and the violation of the principles of comprehensive examination and publicity have exceeded the permissible limits, in the coming days our legal team will take actions aimed at restoring the violated rights of the defense and revealing and publishing the identities of those responsible for these legal violations.

P.S. It seems that some have misunderstood the comment regarding filing a lawsuit for defamation made by the President of the Constitutional Court in yesterday's interview.”

It should be reminded that Hrayr Tovmasyan, the President of the RA Constitutional Court, was charged on December 27, 2019, under Article 308, Part 2 of the RA Criminal Code for abuse of official authority. The decision to involve him as a defendant was made by the RA Prosecutor General on December 26, the same day that RA President Armen Sarkissian signed the law allowing the judges of the Constitutional Court to retire early.