Restrictions Will Not Be Many: Galstyan on the Constitutional Court's Decision

The decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the law on "Seizure of Illegally Acquired Property" is expected to be heavily manipulated in the coming days, and various experts will try to clarify that the scope of application of the law on the seizure of illegally acquired property will be limited. However, the prediction is the opposite, and there will not be many restrictions. This was stated by the Minister of Justice of Armenia, Surbhi Galstyan, while explaining what the high court's decision is about.

“If the illegally acquired property belongs to a public official, then it should be subject to examination for the entire duration of their tenure, meaning there will be no limitation regarding the commission of a crime in the case of a public official. If we are talking about a physical person who is not a public official, then in this case, there must be a direct or indirect link between the commission of a crime and the alleged illegally acquired property. The reason I say that the field is being manipulated is that there is an attempt to connect the grounds for initiating the seizure of illegally acquired property, which are limited and only relate to criminal cases in four instances, to those specific criminal cases without addressing the question of whether the person involved in that criminal case, specifically the accused, is a public official or not.

If the Constitutional Court's decision is interpreted as it is, I believe that there will essentially be no limitation on the circles, but there will undoubtedly be a need for claims to be reviewed and recalculated so that they are more accurate,” said Galstyan.