YEREVAN. – If there had been a situation of rule of law in the sense of a pure viewpoint, then there should have been a court hearing right away today; the court itself could have abolished, on his own initiative, the decision of arrest of the second president. Aram Vardevanyan, a member of the legal defense team of Armenia’s former President Robert Kocharyan, noted this at a press conference on Saturday.
“The prosecutor’s office, as carrying out the function of the protection of rights, could have assumed the taking of actions on this case,” he said. “After all, the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that the penitentiary administration is obligated to release a person if there is no court decision on the detention of a person; this is my subjective opinion.
“The term ‘relevant decision’ can’t happen if there is a recording of a legislative gap to the degree that it violates Article 27 of the Constitution. Consequently, the previous decisions have also violated that article.”
Asked why the Constitutional Court found Article 35 unconstitutional, Vardevanyan responded as follows, in particular: “The thing that the necessary mechanisms for the retired president haven’t been envisaged from the functional immunity stemming from the Constitution has been recognized unconstitutional in Article 35.”
On the basis of second President Robert Kocharyan’s petition, the Constitutional Court recently deemed unconstitutional Article 35 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia, and which refers to cases that rule out criminal prosecution in the country.
Robert Kocharyan is charged with overthrowing the constitutional order in Armenia in connection with the tragic events that occurred in capital city Yerevan in March 2008, and taking a particularly large bribe. He has been arrested three times.
On March 1 and 2, 2008 the then authorities of Armenia used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the presidential election on February 19, 2008. Eight demonstrators as well as two servicemen of the internal troops were killed in the clashes.
