The Venice Commission has not considered reasonable the Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia “judge-“member” word game. The “Path of Law” NGO, whose members are Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) ex-Ombudsman Ruben Melikyan and former chairperson Siranush Sahakyan of the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials of Armenia, have issued a statement in this regard.

The statement reads as follows, in particular:

“The Venice Commission 119th session (June 21-22) report, which contains very important considerations regarding the ongoing processes in Armenia, has been publicized with a limited dissemination. In particular:

“1) As a result of the discussions with the delegation that arrived from Europe, the RA [Republic of Armenia] authorities have accepted that universal vetting of sitting judges is neither necessary nor useful.

“2) The delegation that arrived from Europe and the RA authorities have reached agreement that instead of vetting, the disciplinary procedures should be strengthened—by linking them to the revenue and property declaration system.

3) The Constitutional Court ‘judge’-‘member’ word game has not been considered reasonable at the Venice Commission.

“4) The provision (Article 213 of the RA Constitution) envisaging the future functioning of the Constitutional Court’s judiciary is considered ‘clear’ and ‘indubitable’ at the Venice Commission.

“5) The RA parliament’s welcoming [recently elected CC judge] Vahe Grigoryan’s well-known allegations has been assessed as concerning at the Venice Commission.

“6) The Venice Commission sees a risk of interference with the mandate of the sitting judges of the Constitutional Court.”

The original English full text of the part of the aforesaid report relating to Armenia is presented here.