Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 18.10.19:

·       The judges of the Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia are following the developments related to CC President Hrayr Tovmasyan and his family, and they will react as needed, they said in a statement.

Yesterday, the Constitutional Court has announced its working decision on not accepting the parliament appeal on the termination of the Constitutional Court President Hrayr Tovmasyan's powers.

The independent MP Arman Babajanyan claims Hrayr Tovmasyan has usurped the office of Constitutional Court President by using criminal schemes.

According to CC, the Constitution has maximally restricted the influence of other branches of power on judges of the Constitutional Court, thereby eliminating the possibility of pressure and guaranteeing the effective implementation of the Constitutional Court's mission. 

Meanwhile, some of Tovmasyan’s close family members were called to the National Security Service.

Participants of the protest rally against actions on the head of the Constitutional Court of Armenia Hrayr Tovmasyan and his family were near the NSS building. The action was initiated by lawyer, human rights activist, co-founder of the NGO Legal Way Ruben Melikyan.

·       Speaking on CNN’s The Situation Room , Rep. Ted Lieu urged the US to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

“Not only should we have sanctions against Turkey. It’s also time that we formally recognize the Armenian genocide,” Rep. Ted Lieu  told Wolf Blitzer  on CNN Situation Room, ANCA reported.

·       The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of Russian, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the US), together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (PRCIO) Andrzej Kasprzyk, visited the region from 14 to 17 October.

The Co-Chairs once again stressed the critical importance of monitoring missions led by the PRCIO, in accordance with his mandate and longstanding practice.

The Foreign Ministers confirmed their intention to meet again under Co-Chair auspices before the end of the year.

The Co-Chairs will travel soon to Vienna to brief the OSCE Permanent Council and the members of the Minsk Group.

·       Armenia has been elected to the UN Human Rights Council with 144 supporting votes, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan tweeted.

“Great result! Big thank you to all our supporters, UN member states for the trust! Committed to work hard and cooperating with all our partners in promoting the human rights agenda,” he said.

·       The head coach of the Armenian national football team Armen Gyulbudaghyants will leave his post.

According to him, the reason for the resignation is that the Armenian team was not able to reach the Euro 2020 finals.

“Now our capabilities are purely theoretical in nature, and although this was not originally set for me, I always felt responsible,” he said.