YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: The Constitutional Court [(CC)] will finally examine [ex-President] Robert Kocharyan's petition on determining the issue of the RA Criminal Code [(CC)] Article 300.1’s compliance with the Constitution. The session is scheduled for March 23.

Let us remind that on July 18, 2019, the CC had made a decision to suspend, based on the petitions by the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction and R. Kocharyan, the proceedings of the cases on determining the issue of CC Article 300.1’s compliance with the Constitution, and had applied to the European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commission to get opinions.

A response was received from the mentioned structures last summer. According to the Venice Commission, there is no single approach in the international practice in the wording of crimes against the constitutional order; in some countries the references refer to the Constitution as a whole, in others they simply refer to the need to maintain the constitutional order without defining it.

Moreover, a [CC] session was appointed on July 7 [last year], but the NA [National Assembly] had submitted a petition to the CC, asking to postpone the examination, reasoning that it should get acquainted with the opinion of the Venice Commission.

However, Kocharyan's lawyers state that the authorities are trying to delay the CC decision as much as possible, realizing that it will be in Kocharyan's favor.