The Human Rights Defender of Armenia will forward letters to the Prosecutor General and the Special Investigation Service in regard to the case of President of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan. This is stated in the statement issued by the Office of the Human Rights Defender.

All issues of the judiciary that are linked to specific human rights protection issues or the human rights protection system in general, are in the direct focus of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia. Thus, the questioning of President of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan and the charge brought against him are also in the focus of the Human Rights Defender. The issues related to the early retirement of judges of the Constitutional Court are also in focus and are now current issues.

Taking into consideration the fact that this last issue is a public issue, the Human Rights Defender deems it necessary to publicly touch upon several issues.

In relation to the engagement of President of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan as an accused-on-trial in the criminal case being investigated by the Special Investigation Service, the pre-trial measure selected for him and his rights under the proceedings, the Human Rights Defender has undertaken a criminal procedure to consider the claims of Hrayr Tovmasyan and his attorneys, as well as the public statements that have been made by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Special Investigation Service until now. The Human Rights Defender will closely study the issue related to the immunity of Hrayr Tovmasyan and the criminal prosecution against him.

The actions to question Hrayr Tovmasyan and bring a charge against him were immediately followed by the signing of the law on making supplements to the Law “On the Constitutional Court” by the President of Armenia, which envisages early retirement of judges. Based on this, with this statement, the Human Rights Defender deems it necessary to touch upon this issue as well. The implementation of regulations linked to early retirement must be exclusively voluntary, without any pressure or even such a risk.

All these issues will remain in the focus of the Human Rights Defender.