Ongoing pressures on Constitutional Court 'will meet tougher international reaction,' former parliament official warns  

The political authorities' continuing repressions on the Constitutional Court are going to meet an increasingly tough reaction by our international partners, a former deputy head of the Armenian National Assembly's staff said today, commenting on the recent statement released by the Venice Commission's president.

Speaking to Tert.am, Arsen Babayan shared his concerns also of the evaluations by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), to which Gianni Buquicchio also expressed consent.

″The reports by both the PACE co-rapporteurs and the Venice Commission's President highlight, yet another time, the principle of the separation of powers,″ he noted.

″What the PACE co-rapporteurs say in their statement is the developments around the Constituional Court have been in line with the law up until the present moment. They made reference to  the Venice Commission whose president said yesterday that their proposals were had not been taken into account.

″What they proposed, in particular, was that the law outlining early reitrment mechanisms for the CC judges should not hamper the functioning of the Court, whereas we are aware that under the law in question, a simultaneous retirement by the majority of judges will cause real problems,″ Babayan said.

″It is important to have the understanding that the political authorities' continuing repressions on the Constitutional Court will soon meet tougher reactions by our international partners, particularly the Council of Europe,″ the former parliament official added.  

In his words, Buquicchio's call for not hampering the cases submitted to the Constututional Court are a clear hint that he address a specific case or cases under its proceeding.

Commenting on certain legislators' remarks that that the CC judges face coercion in terms of not accepting the early retirement scheme (by the CC chairman and the political opposition), Babayan said he finds the kind of allegations ridiculous.

″If we look into the authorities of the CC chairman and judges, we will see that they are almost the same, with only certain technical exceptions dealing with the CC's regular functioning marking the difference. The CC chairman cannot, for instance, initiate a prosecution against CC judge; he or she cannot detain their godsons or pass anti-constitutional laws,″ he noted.