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“I can’t understand why the draft Constitution proposes holding a judge of Constitutional Court liable? There was no such provision in the past,” member of the Constitutional Court of Armenia Felix Tokhyan told reporters at a press conference today.
The matter concerns Article 163 of the draft Constitution about status of a judge. Point 3 of the article says: “Criminal prosecution of a judge of the Constitutional Court in connection with the exercise of his/her powers may be launched only with the consent of the Constitutional Court.

A judge of the Constitutional Court may not be arrested in connection with the exercise of his/her powers without the consent of the Constitutional Court, except at the moment of committing a crime or immediately after it. The chairman of the Constitutional Court shall be informed urgently about such cases”.

Tokhyan called the institution of responsibility for CC members insulting and unfounded. He said it is necessary to choose such people as Constitutional Court members whose election will not later result in their criminal liability.

As regards Article 89 regarding the National Assembly - an article that sparked heated discussions among a part of the public, F. Tokhyan said there is no need to remove the provision about a second round of elections to the parliament from the draft Constitution.
“I think it would be better to give the people an opportunity to create a majority, instead of allowing political forces to create an artificial majority in the parliament, behind the people’s back,” he noted.