The European Court of Human Rights has rejected the request of 3 former judges of the Constitutional Court (CC) and the former President of the CC, Hrayr Tovmasyan, to apply an interim measure and to suspend the implementation of the constitutional amendments during the examination of their application.
With those amendments, which entered into force on 26 June, the mandates of 3 members of the CC were terminated, and Hrayr Tovmasyan ceased to be the President of the CC.
In its decision, the European Court recorded that in the case of “Gulyumyan and others v. Armenia” an interim measure cannot be applied, since it falls outside the scope of application of Rule 39 on interim measures, and does not contain a risk of serious and irreparable damage to any core right enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the statement issued regarding the decision, the situation existing in the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia is presented in detail. In particular, it is noted that although the RA Constitution amended in 2015 established a 12-year term of office for CC judges and a 6-year term for the President of the CC, the transitional provisions stipulated that CC judges appointed before the entry into force of Chapter 7 of the constitutional amendments would serve under the old procedure, until retirement age, and the President of the CC could remain in that position until retirement.
It is recorded that the constitutional amendments established a 12-year term of office for CC judges, regardless of when they were appointed, and the President of the CC shall serve for 6 years.
The ECHR decision also mentions the referendum that was scheduled but did not take place due to the “Corona” virus, through which the authorities intended to resolve the CC issue.
Let us recall that the President of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasyan, and members Alvina Gulyumyan, Felix Tokhyan and Hrand Nazaryan, whose mandates were terminated by the constitutional amendments that entered into force on 26 June, submitted a complaint to the ECHR to challenge the legality of the termination of their mandates. Within the scope of the application, they also requested the Court to apply an interim measure against Armenia. Subsequently, the ECHR sent questions to the RA government, the answers to which were sent on Monday.
