YEREVAN. – After leaving office, members of the Constitutional Court of Armenia will retain the right to a pension. The Minister of Justice, Rustam Badasyan, said this at Monday’s special sitting of the National Assembly to discuss the bill on making amendments in the Constitution.

According to him, the legal purpose of making changes in the Constitutional Court is mentioned both in the opinion of the Venice Commission and in the statement by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

To note, paragraph 82 of the Venice Commission's conclusion states that Commission regrets that a proposal for constitutional amendments was introduced in the Armenian parliament on the day of the adoption by the Venice Commission of its opinion, and added that this proposal is not in line with the recommendations in the aforesaid opinion.

Sending the bill to the Constitutional Court, which was not done by the National Assembly, is a controversial issue.

According to the advice of the Venice Commission, the draft should be sent to the Constitutional Court.