YEREVAN. – The former members of the Constitutional Court had the right to apply to the European Court, which they did; they have exercised their right. Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan stated about this in a talk with journalists Wednesday in the National Assembly of Armenia, referring to the fact that the Constitutional Court members who have been dismissed as a result of the constitutional amendments, as well as Constitutional Court president Hrayr Tovmasyan—who, according to the aforesaid amendments, is now just an ordinary member of the court—applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and now the latter must make an interim decision.

"But I am not aware, I am not sure, in any case, whether or not the ECHR shall make an interim decision, as it was claimed in your question," he added.

To the remark that the Armenian President proposed that the Government, the President, and the General Assembly of Judges each appoint three separate new members of the Constitutional Court, Mirzoyan said as follows, in particular: "What the President of the Republic of Armenia proposes presupposes constitutional amendments. You know that there is a commission that drafts amendments to the Constitution and it works, and I think that the President of the Republic of Armenia should perhaps formally or verbally apply to that commission.”

But Ararat Mirzoyan added that in his view, the current mechanism is quite successful.