Prosecutors in Armenia have demanded seven years in prison for a Constitutional Court judge charged with abuse of official powers related to alleged real estate fraud.
Hrayr Tovmasyan, who was removed from his post as Constitutional Court chairman following a constitutional amendment effected in 2020, but continued to serve as a judge, rejects the accusations, claiming to have been warned by authorities to step down from the court or face criminal prosecution.
In December 2019, Tovmasyan was charged with using a front man to take over the premises of two notary offices and leasing them to the notaries themselves while he served as justice minister.
If found guilty before December, Tovmasyan will have to serve his sentence. Although the statute of limitations for the alleged crime would apply after that, but the judge will still have to relinquish his current position, Prosecutor Arsen Margaryan explained to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
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“According to the law on the Constitutional Court, the issuance of an indictment, its entry into legal force, or even the cessation of criminal prosecution on a non-exculpatory basis is an obstacle to occupying the high position of a judge,” he said.
For years Tovmasyan’s lawyers have argued that as a member of the Constitutional Court elected still under the 2005 Constitution, their client enjoys immunity from prosecution and can only be indicted with the consent of the Constitutional Court.
However, Prosecutor Margarian contended that Tovmasian’s immunity does not apply to this criminal case, which is related to actions taken before he assumed his position as a judge.
“The crimes alleged are unrelated to the powers of the Constitutional Court. What is being incriminated is an alleged criminal act committed while he was serving as justice minister and did not enjoy immunity,” he explained.
Tovmasian has made few comment about the criminal case over the past four years, and filming of court hearings has been prohibited at his request. At the beginning of the trial he denied the charges and described the persecution against him as politically motivated.
“I was warned about it six months ago. I was told that if I did not take X, Y, Z steps, I would be charged eventually, and those X, Y, Z steps meant resignation,” he claimed then.
Tovmasian, a political ally of former President Serzh Sarkisian and author of the current Constitution, was elected chairman of the Constitutional Court in 2018, shortly before large-scale street protests led to Sarkisian’s resignation and brought then opposition leader Nikol Pashinian to power.
The new government of Prime Minister Pashinian initiated a process of constitutional amendments that resulted in Tovmasian’s being removed from his position as chairman of the Constitutional Court in 2020. He, however, continued to serve as a judge. Three other judges of the Constitutional Court elected under the previous administration were also dismissed as a result of the same process.
Tovmasyan’s lawyer Aram Orbelyan, who is currently on vacation, did not immediately comment on the seven-year imprisonment demand made by the prosecutors at a court hearing last week.
