Immunity Not Overcome, Court Satisfies Vardazaryan's Appeal: Details

The Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan has ordered the removal of the violation of the rights and legal interests of Ruben Vardazaryan, the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council (his powers are temporarily suspended). Just recently, the Yerevan court, presided over by Judge David Harutyunyan, accepted Vardazaryan's appeal against the decision to involve him as a defendant. This information was provided to ‘Factinfo’ by lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan.

In other words, the court has registered that the prosecuting authority was obliged to first deprive Ruben Vardazaryan of his functional immunity, which was not done.

As previously informed, Ruben Vardazaryan, chairman of the RA Supreme Judicial Council, has been charged in the Anti-Corruption Committee under part 3 of Article 332 of the RA Criminal Code for using his official position to obstruct the administration of justice; a measure has been taken against him in the form of a signature prohibiting him from leaving.

A criminal case was initiated against Vardazaryan without overcoming his immunity, based on a report from former judge and newly appointed deputy director of the NSS Andranik Simonian.

It should be noted that while the RA Prosecutor General's Office stated that there was no issue of overcoming Ruben Vardazaryan's functional immunity because the criminal prosecution did not relate to the judge's exercise of his powers. Even in a report prepared under the instruction of former military prosecutor Gagik Jhangiryan, it was mentioned that the criminal prosecution against Ruben Vardazaryan is not related to the exercise of his powers; however, the fact remains that the criminal case was initiated for obstructing the administration of justice through the use of an official position.