The Special Investigative Service has brought charges against former National Assembly President Ara Babloyan, the service’s spokesperson Marina Ohanyan told Azatutyun, regarding the criminal case opened on charges of abuse of power.
Babloyan has been charged under two articles: official forgery and abuse of power. A written undertaking not to leave the country has been chosen as a preventive measure. Earlier, the former National Assembly president had insisted in an interview with Azatutyun that he had not committed any forgery.
Last week, the Special Investigative Service opened a criminal case on charges of abuse of power based on a complaint by independent MP Arman Babajanyan. The former deputy head of the National Assembly staff, Arsen Papayan, is also accused in this case. Papayan has not accepted the charge and has been in custody since last week.
MP Babajanyan maintains that in 2018, Republican Party MP Hrayr Tovmasyan seized the position of President of the Constitutional Court through criminal schemes. In a lengthy statement, the SIS noted that in 2018, former officials arranged for former National Assembly President Ara Babloyan to announce the resignation of Constitutional Court President Gagik Harutyunyan at a time when that resignation had not yet occurred, after which the parliament, under the old 2005 Constitution, appointed Tovmasyan as President of the Constitutional Court on March 21. Tovmasyan was elected under the old constitution so that he could serve until the age of 70; under the new one, he would have served only six years.
According to the SIS, the resignation application signed on March 1 reached the National Assembly on March 5, but Ara Babloyan had already announced Gagik Harutyunyan’s resignation on March 2.
