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Constitutional expert Gor Hovhannisyan has reacted to the ruling of the Armenian Constitutional Court on the mandatory testing of unvaccinated employees at their own expense, calling it “utterly absurd”.

The Armenian top court on Thursday ruled that the requirement for workers to undergo Covid-19 testing at their own expense is unconstitutional. The judgement says that the wording “at their own expense” in the health minister’s order runs counter to Parts 1 and 2 of Article 6, as well as Article 39 of the Constitution.

Hovhannisyan underlines that even if the phrase is removed from the order, it does not envisage that the state has to pay for the testing.

“Moreover, the Constitutional Court has not obliged the state to resettle the issue. Neither the National Assembly nor the health minister are now forced to make any changes in their decisions,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday, saying employees will have to continue paying for their tests anyway.