YEREVAN—The opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK) announced on Wednesday that it would not join the Prosperous Armenia Party’s (PAP) challenge to the government’s proposed constitutional amendment, thus removing the last obstacle to a planned overhaul of the country’s judicial system. The amendment to Article 213 of the Armenian Constitution would do away with exemptions for Sargysan-appointed justices to the constitutional court from the 12-year term limits.
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Would have been nice to explain what is the amendment? The “last amendment to Article 213” link has this: “If successful, the referendum would pave the way for the dismissal of seven of the nine judges currently serving in the Constitutional Court.” However, still not clear how and why and what part of it holding the corrupted judges.
Thank you for your informative and unbiased article. One thing is certain, the corrupt judges have to be removes as soon as possible. Unless they are taken out from their office and replaced by decent and fair minded judges, we will not see a constructive change in the path to reform Armenia. As a caviat, if these judges, who serve the previous oligarchy, are not removed, our country will continue to be known as the land of the few privileged.
On what basis are you calling these judges corrupt? Do you have any proof that Alvina Gumilian is corrupt or just platitudes? What’s happening is that the government wants to remake the high court to their liking. In order to open up space for judges they want to see on the bench, they’ve engineered this gimmick. It’s not about wrongdoing by the existing judges, it’s that they just want to make room for judges they want to install. Can you imagine how much every US president would love to summarily fire Supreme Court justices and appoint their own. That happens in countries like Turkey – also a democracy by the way. Thankfully, there’s still rule of law in the US and branches of government have to find a way to work with each other regardless of how much or little they like each other.
Venice Commission President addresses letter to Hrayr Tovmasyan
“I have been following closely the developments in Armenia concerning the constitutional amendments. I regret that they are not in line with the clear recommendations of the Venice Commission.”
https://news.am/eng/news/587933.html
Really Aram, that link is your source?
Cake recipes have more text than that so called “news” article.
There is explanation in the first paragraph, “The amendment to Article 213 of the Armenian Constitution would do away with exemptions for Sargysan-appointed justices to the constitutional court from the 12-year term limits.”
Sounds like the change would be for the good and democratic.
For a sitting administration to pack the court in its favor without a public referendum, it is an obvious “usurpation”.
When the rule of law is not followed, the legitimacy of government structures is weakened.
No, Aram, my Kocharyan-loving friend, that’s not actually the case.
Armenia’s Constitution doesn’t actually require a public referendum to amend a single article, a simple Parliamentary majority suffices. The Pashinyan Government was going to have a referendum anyway – for the sake of extra legitimacy (even though it wasn’t necessary) – but they cancelled it because of the ongoing pandemic. (Unlike Russia, Armenia apparently puts public safety above political goals)