Armenian lawyer disputes constitutionality of parliament-proposed legislative reforms

Gohar Meloyan, CEO and Co-Founder of the International Center on Development of Parliamentarism, questions the legitimacy of recently initiated amendments to constitutional laws, stressing the need of disputing the measures on the higest judicial level.

At a news conference on Monday, the lawyer called for urgent efforts to apply to the Constitutional Court to have its professional opinion on the amendments proposed to the National Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, the law ″On the Constitutional Court″ and the law ″On Referendum″.

She also dismissed the reports on a constitutional crisis, noting that the high court ″duly exercises its functions″, ensuring the necessary cooperation with applicants.

″This clearly demonstrates that there isn't any crisis in that body. And we obviously understand that the CC's position, i.e. – that the constitutional changes are a constitutional demand - stems from the Constitution itself, as well as the international legal practice. And that implies that the Constitutional Court is required to exercise a preliminary oversight before enacting the changes to ensure that the specific amendments will not run counter to the Constitution,″ she added.

Meloyan said she is now afraid that the kind of precedent may apply also to international treaties to rule out the necessary procedure of their submission to the CC (for future considerations of their compliance with the basic law). ″An attempt is obviously being made to circumvent the requirement for applying to the Constuttional Court, a practice that virtually conflicts with the Constitution in an effort to later also circumvent the president's insitution. The bills in question pose a serious threat to a rule of law country as they violate the fundamental principles of a state governed by democracy and rule of law, particularly the separation of powers.″

The controversial bills, if nonetheless adopted, will be unconstitutional, Meloyan claimed. ″I call upon the opposition [political] forces in the National Assembly to apply to the Constitutional Court [to insist] on their unconstitionality. I urge also the President of the Republic – despite his earlier failure to exercise his right – to apply to the Constitutional Court to prevent the this situation linked to the absurdly worded bills which are nonsensical in essence,″ she added.