The deputy of the Armenia Faction Artsvik Minasyan presented for debate the NA draft decision on Applying to Constitutional Court on Terminating Powers of the Judge of the Constitutional Court (CC) Seda Safaryan. He noted that the joint application of the lawyers Arsen Babayan and Sos Hakobyan served as a basis for submitting the draft.
“It implies from the analysis of the facts presented there that the CC Judge Seda Safaryan violated the incompatibility requirements established for the person elected in that position. In these conditions the NA is authorized to apply the CC with the application on terminating powers of the judge, who violated the incompatibility requirement. “In democratic and legal states the implementation of the activity incompatible with the position by the official person is inadmissible, moreover when it refers to the CC judge,” Artsvik Minasyan said.
It is noted in the application that Seda Safaryan with the name ‘Seda Safaryan Seryozha’ as an individual entrepreneur was registered in the RA Ministry of Justice in the state register on August 11, 1994.
According to the information in the state register, on January 27, 2023 the given individual entrepreneur was removed from the registration, in fact, there is no any written document on suspending or terminating the activity of ‘Seda Safaryan Seryozha’ individual entrepreneur in the legal persons’ state register. That means that in the state register book, according to the existing information, Seda Safaryan, acted as individual entrepreneur without interruptions from August 11, 1994 until January 27, 2023.
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The deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Vahagn Aleksanyan with his observation agreed with Artsvik Minasyan that Seda Safaryan in reality has high professional qualification and substantiated: “Otherwise she would not succeed to prove in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that in 2004, in Vardenis simply a case was ‘made’ on a family, the right of their fair trial was violated and from 2004 a whole family was in jail with 13 and 9-year imprisonment. That is another thing that at that time the political power of the country was encouraging towards such judicial judgments.”
“On the previous time you applied to the CC related to the law on Confiscation of Illegal Property: is there any connection between two applications? And how many deputies pass on the cases on Confiscation of Illegal Property from your faction? Has Seda Safaryan taken money from anybody, rendered service or not,” Vahagn Aleksanyan required.
In response, Artsvik Minasyan said that they are not the ones to make a decision if Seda Safaryan will be resigned or not the CC will make a decision, the instance, that Seda Safaryan is member, and which is considered a highest body of the constitutional justice administration.
The deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Arusyak Julhakyan inquired from Artsvik Minasyan if they applied to the Corruption Prevention Commission on the fact if there is clash of interests for making study, giving conclusion on these facts.
Artsvik Minasyan informed that they did not apply and added that in their presented application there is no analysis on the clash of the interests.
The rapporteur Arusyak Julhakyan in her speech noted that in the draft presented by the Armenia Faction three terms are mentioned: the Armenia Faction considers beginning of one-month term September 15, 2022, the day of Seda Safaryan being elected as CC judge, and concludes that one-month term ended on October 16, 2022. According to the Armenia Faction, after being elected Seda Safaryn continued to act as a lawyer.
Arusyak Julyakyan noted that it is absurd to accept September 15 as a beginning of a term, as being led by Article 31.5 of the law on Public Service, it seems to be that the person, not being a judge, can violate the judge’s incompatibility requirements. Referring to the violation of the other presented term, she quoted the Article 5.2 of the law on Constitutional Court and mentioned that the CC newly elected judge assumes his/her position immediately after raking an oath, the Armenia alliance concludes that Seda Safaryan assumed the judge’s position on December 10, 2022 and, according to that, considers that she should terminate her entrepreneurship activity on January 11, 2023.
Arusyak Julhakyan informed that, in accordance with the constitutional law the RA Rules of Procedure, the person elected or appointed by the NA assumes the position in cases established by the Constitution or law after taking an oath at the NA sitting. The day of assuming Seda Safaryan’s powers by taking an oath in the NA is December 16.
Arusyak Julhakyan stated that on November 30, 2022 Seda Safaryan, taking into consideration the law on Advocacy applied to the RA Chamber of Advocates with a request to suspend the action of her patent being engaged with advocacy activity from December 8 of the same year.
The co-rapporteur informed that on December 16, 2022 Seda Safaryan applied to the State Revenue Committee and presented a statement on terminating her entrepreneurship activity on indefinite term from that day.
“I think that we cannot speak about the substantive violation of the incompatibility requirements by the judge, if there is violation, then it is technical,” Arusyak Julhakyan said.
The Committee did not endorse the application draft.
The issue was debated at March 20 sitting of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs.
National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia