The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia (RA) has issued an analysis of the statement on the President's decision on the PM’s petition to dismiss the serving chief of the General Staff.
"The President has announced his intention to fulfill the second of the two imperative requirements set forth in the sentence in Article 139, Part 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution, to apply to the Constitutional Court with a separate petition, based on Article 169, Part 1, Clause 4 of the Constitution.
The powers of the Constitutional Court are defined by Article 168 of the Constitution, the first relevant point of which is to determine the conformity of the law. According to Article 168 of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court does not have the authority to resolve the issue of the constitutionality of the draft Presidential Decree, or the dismissal of the Chief of General Staff of the RA Armed Forces; that is, the President may apply to the Constitutional Court regarding the relevant, exclusively on military service and the status of a serviceman, with a request to determine whether the RA Law of November 15, 2017 (hereinafter—the Law) as the legal basis of the draft complies with the Constitution, and not a specific article or part of a law.
The deadline for petitioning to the Constitutional Court is not defined at all by Article 139, Part 2, Sentence 2 of the Constitution and the related part. The deadline for the relevant terms are defined in Article 35.1 of the Law
With Part 3, 8 days after the return of the draft decree (grounds for dismissal, Part 3 of Article 40 of the Law refers to the procedure of appointment).
According to the statement, the President acted and expressed his intention to act exclusively in accordance with the Constitution.
Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, Colonel General Onik Gasparyan of Viktor, continues his service to the homeland and the people, he is the supreme military commander of the Armed Forces until the expiration of the 8-day term (after the President petitions to the Constitutional Court, other deadlines come into force)," reads the analysis.
