The Interview of Haykuhi Harutyunyan about the Decision Made on the Case of the Former RA President R. Kocharyan

June 26, 2019

The “Liberty” radio station had an interview with Haykuhi Harutyunyan, the President of the “Protection of Rights without Border” NGO about the decision made in regard to the case of the former RA President Robert Kocharyan.

Talking about the verdict made by the RA Court of Appeal about R. Kocharyan, Haykuhi Harutyunyan mentioned, that the public is familiar only the concluding part of the decision, which was read by the judge and the overall content of the decision was presented. Different issues related to the detention, the preventive measure and the decision to apply to the Constitution Court were raised in the decision, which are subject to regulations.

According to H. Harutyunyan, the RA courts are also vested with the right to comment the gaps in the case. “Therefore, I think, that the now the court faces that problem to make rights decisions while respecting the principal of the right” – mentioned Haykuhi Harutyunyan.

By the assessment of H. Harutyunyan, from the perspective of applying to the Constitution Court opinions on the comments related to the failure of the Constitution order and the issue of immunity has a more clear regulation.

To the question of the journalist, whether after the decision of the Court of Appeal, the Constitution Court should continue the examination of the case, Haykuhi Harutyunyan responded: “The Constitution Court cannot remain without a decision, whether the latter will accept or not it is another dimension of the question. According to the procedure, the Constitution Court shall adopt a decision in a line with an application. However, the situational changes in the Constitution Court will support not only the Constitution Court, but also the first instance court, since the Constitution Court is now enabled to clarify by that decision what kind of activities the first instance court can carry out.

Concerning the delay of the cases investigation, Haykuhi Harutyunyan mentioned, that applying to the Constitution Court has created an expectation, that the activities, that were carried out in the first instance court, will be suspended.

“In terms of deadlines, there is an interruption and before the Constitution Court would announce its position about the raised issues from the perspective of constitution, there was a tendency that the deadline and the process will be prolonged” – mentioned Haykuhi Harutyunyan.

According to Haykuhi Harutyunyan, from the perspective of the influence on the courts, it can be concluded that some influence was made on the judge of the First Instance Court.

“I will exclude the material influence. I think it was more of other kind of influence, which could be the previous connection with the judge and the threat to use the information about the judge. But as for the Court of Appeal and the judge, I don’t think that the decision procedure is also free from influence. I don’t attribute it to a specific person, but obviously the public perception was also an influence, which we ignore and we try to find other influence. I think, that the public pressure and the current atmosphere is already an influence. I don’t want to objectively exclude the circumstance, that from the moral perspective there is also a evidence about the victims. But the public mood and perception is also an influence, which we shall take into consideration” 0 added H. Harutyunyan.

Azatutyun.am