Towards a governable judiciary: Who will consent to being at the top of 'huge pyramid' obedient to Pashinyan’s whims?  

Armen Kareyan

After the “fierce battles” dragging on for almost two years, Pashinyan seems to be managing to "handle" the Constitutional Court issue to his own advantage. On his way towards that end, he never backed away from breaching either the laws or the Constitution. Neither did he feel constrained by the CC judges’ authority to reinstate their rights though international judicial procedures "to our country's disgrace". Not until settling the issue, however, did the prime minister realize that nothing was actually settled.

Initially he led the struggle against Hrayr Tovmasyan, whose replacement as the head of the Constitutional Court would enable him to gain total control over that institution. Professional lawyers and public figures were persistently trying to explain to Pashinyan that Hrayr Tovmasyan had but a single vote in the Constitutional Court - a collegial body in question - without any leverage of influence over the other judges’ will. But that was incomprehensible to Pashinyan, whose “modest brains” wouldn’t simply digest the information. “Tovmasyan is the boss; he is the one to decide everything,” was his motto.

And now that the Constitutional Court is becoming governable, why is he pressing ahead with the constitutional reforms to merge the Court of Cassation and the CC to create a Supreme Court? The logic behind the earlier court formation processes was to create a three-tier judiciary to prevent the chair of the Court of Cassation from “getting the better of all the judges” (thereby granting those judges a higher degree of independence). But Pashinyan’s brains won’t digest this either. He has vowed not to intervene in judges’ affairs and not to ever call any judge. What he wants is, as a matter of fact, to create a tough hierarchy with a superior unconditionally abiding by his commands.

The prime minister is now being told that a ruling by a first instance court may be overruled or dismissed by the Court of Appeals, with the Court of Cassation enjoying the power to reverse or return the case to the first instance or pass a final ruling at its own discretion. What makes Pashinyan nervous is the intricate system, which appears so mixed for an ignorant person; he cannot possibly be at the helm of a structure, which is not a pyramid.

But if one brings the entire judiciary into a single category, adding the Constitutional Court’s function to it , who else if not the “Mr. know-all” – an average adventurer for the judiciary– would take heart to give commands under such circumstances.

Specialists understanding "a thing or two" have the perfect realization of the fact that there will be direct instructions by the minister (whereas the rulings passed will be far beyond the reasonable judge’s common sense).

Such a practice is certainly specific also to other cases and calibers when it comes to the desire to deal with a single person. When Henri Kissinger was once told that he, as the US Secretary of State, never took Europe’s views into account, his reply was, “Give me Europe’s telephone number so that I will call them myself to know their opinion”. Yes, the world’s strongest superpower may typically afford itself the luxury of avoiding debates to know whether arriving at a unanimous decision is virtually possible. This kind of workstyle is specific also to a provincial-level governors, e.g. - someone who could be talked into "settling the affair:. Armenia is neither a small province nor a superpower; its leader is required to work with the different branches of government under conditions of check and balances and the “magnifying glass” of the media. That person is also required to take account of the international organizations, of which our country is a full-fledged member (with the commitment to  act in line with those institutions' common rules of co-existence).