High court judges urge justice minister 'to act within the law'  

The chairman and three members of the Constitutional Court have issued a call to the minister of justice, warning him against "acting beyond the scope of law" in handling the constitutional amendments.

In their joint appeal, Hrayr Tovmasyan, Alvina Gyulumyan, Felix Tokhyan and Hrant Nazaryan responded particularly to Rustam Badasyan's recent statement announcing plans to sack the three judges of the high court and terminate Tovmasyan's tenure "in two days' time" to appoint him a CC member.

Citing the law on the Constitutional Court, particularly Section 5, Article 88 thereof, the judges claim that the chair and the members of the high judicial body "are authorized to officiate after the expiry of the 12-year period" (before the entry into effect of Chapter 7 of the Constitution) to complete their tenure established under the 2005 constitutional amendments.

The judges insist that the said norm of the constitutional legal act is "subject to an unnconditional implementation" given that it was neither disputed by the Constitutional Court to be declared unconstitutional nor recognized null and void by the National Assembly 

"Considering the above, we urge the corresponding officials to refrain from acting beyond the scope of their authority prescribed by the Constitution and the laws," they said.