Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of top news as of 15.07.2019:

• Following the results of the 119th plenary session of June 21-22, the Venice Commission published a document in Venice, which addressed the events taking place in Armenia.

In a letter to the Prime Minister of Armenia, the President of the Commission acknowledged that there was a lack of trust in the judiciary but insisted that any measures taken had to be fully in line with the Constitution and international standards, the document said.

According to the document, agreement between a delegation of high Council of Europe officials and Armenia was reached that it would be neither necessary nor useful to carry out a general vetting of all sitting judges. Instead, disciplinary procedures should be strengthened and a link with the asset declaration system established.

The other important emphasis of the Commission refers to the tangle that has been created around the Constitutional Court. The commission was informed about Constitutional Court judge Vahe Grigoryan’s comments. His main argument was that, according to the previous text of the Constitution, they had been elected as members of the Constitutional Court, while the new text referred to judges of the Constitutional Court. Article 213 of the revised Constitution, however, provided clearly and unambiguously that the chairman and members of the Constitutional Court appointed prior to the entry into force of the amendments shall continue to serve until the end of their term of office prescribed by the Constitution amended in 2005,” the source noted.

The Commission asked the President to follow the situation with respect to the Constitutional Court closely with a view to making, if appropriate, a public statement.

• The final tournament of 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship kicked off in Yerevan on Sunday.

In the opening match, the Armenian squad clashed against Spaniards. Spaniards defeated Armenians 4-1.

• Large fire broke out near the Armenia Genocide memorial complex on Sunday.

The fire that broke out has been put out, but 20 hectares of vegetative cover has been burned up as a result of this fire.

Four water trucks and 67 rescuers took part in firefighting, which was led by Emergency Situations Minister Feliks Tsolakyan.

• The 16th Golden Arpicot International Film Festival summed up on Saturday. On July 13, the closing ceremony of the festival took place at Moscow Cinema.

''Driving lessons'' by Marziyeh Riahi won ''Golden Apricot'' in Regional Short Film Competition. ''Prisoner of society'' by Rati Tsiteladze was awarded ''Silver Apricot'' in the same competition. Genadzi Melqonyan special prize was awarded to the ''Baina'' by Lilit Petrosyan. ''Horizon'' by Tinatin Kajrishvili was awarded FIPRESCI prize in Regional Panorama Competition. Prime minister's award was awarded to the ''Trap'' by Tatev Hakobyan.

This year the 16th IFF has received over 740 films from different countries and has selected a number of films from prestigious international film festivals such as the festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, for the program.

• The US should lead the peacekeeping efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh, says Congresswoman Judy Chu, whose law initiative was approved last week by the US House of Representatives.

This bill envisages allocating funds from the US state budget in 2020 to implement the well-known Royce-Engel initiative, which envisages removing snipers and artillery from the line of contact between Azerbaijan and Karabakh, installing special equipment that will enable to clarify those guilty of the ceasefire violations, and increasing the number of observers of the special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

• The  U.S. House of Representatives has approved a powerful amendment introduced by Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) to block the transfer of U.S. defense articles to Baku that could potentially be used by the Azerbaijani government to act upon its threat to shoot down civilian aircraft operating out of Artsakh’s Stepanakert Airport.
• Mom and daughter have been killed as a result a rockfall in Armenia’s Lori province on Sunday. Karine Galstyan, 35, and her daughter Lilia Mkrtumyan, 12, have been killed, while the father has been hospitalized with injuries.