CONSTITUTION CONFINES CC

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“What is the authority provided by the Constitution to the CC? First, to consider issues of correspondence of international agreements to the Constitution and second the resolutions of controversies available between the President and the NA”, Justice faction deputy Shavarsh Kocharyan, chairman of the People’s Party of Armenia says.

The non-efficient activity of the CC Sharavsh Kocharyan conditions by the fact that it is confined by the Constitution. He considers that any citizen should possess the right to appeal to the CC. “However there is an admitted international norm: first the citizen should go through the ordinary courts. If a judge sees that when issuing a verdict he is forced to apply a law which conflicts with the Constitution, he should immediately suspend the case and appeal to the CC for conclusion.

As for the self-government bodies, Shavarsh Kocharyan said, “They should possess the right to appeal to the CC if other branches of power interfere in their authority”. Surely, the disputes available between the branches of power should be solved in the CC. Another important question is whether the CC can institute a case on its own initiative. Shavarsh Kocharyan says it is not accepted in the international practice. However, in his opinion there should not be limitations considerably impeding the process of appealing to the CC. Presently only 44 deputies have the right to appeal to the CC and this number can be reduced.

As for the age restrictions, according to Shavarsh Kocharyan, they should be equal both for ordinary courts and the CC. We adhere to the opinion that the CC chairman should preserve the post for two terms. There is another approach when the judges are appointed for a lifelong term of they are stainless. But the idea of stainlessness is rather complicated. In this view it would be advisable if a CC judge’s authority lasted 7 years, for example”, Shavarsh Kocharyan noted.

Diana Markosyan