The Constitutional Court (CC), in a decision published on December 10, has ruled that a person in detention cannot be held in custody after acquiring the status of deputy. Months ago, opposition deputies applied to the high court to clarify this issue regarding their colleagues — the detained deputies of the “Hayastan” alliance, Armen Charchyan, Mkhitar Zakaryan and Artur Sargsyan.
Law enforcement had brought charges against all three and detained them before they were elected deputies. The defenders of the opposition members have repeatedly stated that after being elected deputies, they should have been released from custody by virtue of acquiring parliamentary immunity.
The high court has decided that at the moment of acquiring the status of deputy, a person, except in cases provided for in Part 2 of Article 96 of the Constitution, cannot be deprived of liberty other than with the consent of the National Assembly. According to the said article of the Constitution, the question of a deputy’s immunity is not considered if the deputy is caught at the moment of committing an offence or immediately after.
