In February 2020, an expert group will be formed to prepare a draft constitutional reform, Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan told reporters.

According to the minister, the structure will be sufficiently apolitical and will consist of experts. To the question of whether the crisis around the Constitutional Court can be regulated by constitutional reforms, the minister noted that “if they see the need for this and propose appropriate solutions, then yes, it is possible.”

When commenting on the availability of a proposal to combine the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation, Badasyan noted: “The expert group must evaluate it. There is very bad experience when the executive branch dictates what to change and why. We will let the expert group decide whether it sees the prerequisites for this and the need. I have my own opinion, but I do not want to predict the work of the group in any way. ”

Commenting on the proposal on the early retirement of the Constitutional Court judges, the minister recalled that this is based on the principle of voluntariness. When asked what would happen if judges did not exercise the right to early retirement, did the authorities have another option in reserve, the minister said: “It is possible that we can also come up with something, but I didn’t say that if this will not happen, we will act somehow differently.”

The government has developed a bill that provides the judges of the Constitutional Court with the possibility of resignation while maintaining salaries and future pensions.