It is the final stage of the trial of Constitutional Court judge Hrayr Tovmasyan. The session continues. It was not Tovmasyan’s turn yet, his defenders Aram Orbelyan and Mihran Poghosyan read their speeches. Defender Poghosyan accused Prime Minister Pashinyan of directing the criminal prosecution against Tovmasyan.
“The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, in his public speeches: press conferences, live broadcasts, notes, etc., etc., I do not want to refer to them in detail, because Aram Orbelyan referred to them, as well as the entire elite of the “Civil Agreement Party” from top to bottom. , have repeatedly expressed conviction, asserted and confirmed that Hrayr Tovmasyan, the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, has committed various crimes,” the lawyer stated.
The criminal prosecution against Tovmasyan began after Pashinyan came to power, when he was the president of the Constitutional Court. He is accused of abusing official powers during his tenure as Minister of Justice. According to the criminal caseTovmasyan, together with a person who has patronage ties with him, prevented the notaries from buying the premises of the notaries’ building located at 1 Baghramyan Street in the center of Yerevan and purchased it himself. According to the case, the notaries were forced to rent premises at the address of Alek Manukyan at their set prices.
Tovmasyan calls this case, which has dragged on for more than four years, political, he does not accept the accusation. The case started at the stage when the government was changing the composition of the Constitutional Court, and Tovmasyan was deprived of the post of president, but continued to work as a judge.
Mihran Poghosyan began the speech by describing the attitude of Prime Minister Pashinyan at that time, when he directed the law enforcement agencies with statements.
“Nikol Pashinyan announced that he is familiar with such indisputable evidence that confirms the suspicion about Hrayr Tovmasyan that he committed criminal abuses while holding the position of Minister of Justice, and also became the President of the Constitutional Court by fraud. Moreover, he made those statements before a certain part of the criminal case was made public, even in several cases, the initiation of those criminal cases,” said Poghosyan, adding. – “With this practice, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia regularly and clearly went beyond the scope of his powers and abused his official position.”
The prosecutor demanded 7 years imprisonment. The statute of limitations for this criminal case expires in December. this means that even if the court accuses Tovmasyan, he will not be imprisoned, but he will be deprived of the position of judge of the High Court. The defense side demands that the court acquit Tovmasyan.
