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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided on Wednesday not to apply an interim measure requested in the case Gyulumyan and Others v. Armenia concerning the recent amendments to the Constitution of Armenia.

The four applicants, Alvina Gyulumyan, Hrant Nazaryan, Feliks Tokhyan and Hrayr Tovmasyan who were judges of the Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia at the time of the constitutional reform, requested in particular that the European Court indicate to the Armenian government that they freeze enforcement of the constitutional amendments and preserve their offices.

The court decided to reject the request as outside the scope of application of Rule 39 (interim measures) of the Rules of Court, since it did not involve a risk of serious and irreparable harm of a core right under the European Convention on Human Rights.

ECHR reminds that in 2015 the Constitution of Armenia was amended, introducing a 12-year non-renewable term of office for Constitutional Court judges and establishing a 6-year non-renewable mandate for the president of Armenia’s highest court.

However, pursuant to a transitional arrangement, judges who had been appointed before the entry into force of these amendments were to continue serving under the old rules, according to which CC judges were appointed until their retirement. Similarly, the president of the CC was to keep his mandate until retirement

Recently, it was decided to amend the Constitution in a manner that all judges of the CC would have a 12-year term of office, regardless of their date of appointment. The six-year non-renewable mandate of the Constitutional Court head was also to be applied. Failing the ability to hold a planned referendum due to the sanitary crisis, these amendments were adopted by parliament and entered into force in June 2020 and effectively terminated the term of office of the first three applicants in the case, judges of the CC, and the mandate of the fourth applicant as president of the top court of Armenia.