YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenia’s parliament approved constitutional amendments on Monday that allow for the suspension of three judges on the Constitutional Court and the election of its new head, moves the opposition said were politically motivated.
Voters had been due to approve the changes in a referendum on April 5 but the vote was cancelled due to the new coronavirus outbreak.
The three judges due to be suspended were appointed before a peaceful revolution against corruption and cronyism brought Nikol Pashinyan to power two years ago. The court’s other six judges will remain in place.
Prime Minister Pashinyan has previously called some of the Constitutional Court’s decisions a “threat to democracy”. Most of its judges were appointed by the former ruling Republican Party.
Last September the court ruled that a criminal case against Armenia’s former president, Robert Kocharyan, was partly unconstitutional.
Kocharyan has been charged with acting unlawfully by introducing a state of emergency in March 2008 following a disputed election. Last week he was released from custody on bail of $4.2 million.
Hrayr Tovmasyan, the head of the Constitutional Court, was charged in December with abuse of power while he was serving as Armenia’s justice minister. He has denied the charges.
Under the amendments, his duties as head of the court will be suspended and he will become a member of the court.
The opposition criticised the changes.
“The authorities are trying to have a constitutional court that is beneficial to them,” Iveta Tonoyan, a lawmaker from the opposition Prosperous Armenia party, told a briefing.
(Reporting by Nvard Hovhannisyan; Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Gareth Jones)
