Yesterday, the government issued a statement announcing a meeting between Constitutional Court President Arman Dilanyan, whose six-year term is coming to an end, and Nikol Pashinyan, who has embarked on another term as prime minister. Notably, the meeting took place at the government headquarters.The head of the Constitutional Court—the highest-ranking official in Armenia’s judicial system and, consequently, the country’s highest judicial authority—visits the government, the workplace of the head of the executive branch, an appointed official.
According to the statement, Nikol Pashinyan thanked the Constitutional Court president for taking up the post and serving during a difficult period. The logic behind the way he performed that job is perhaps best illustrated by this very episode marking the end of his term. It symbolizes a situation in which the highest judicial authority has been accountable to the executive, in defiance of the Constitution. It is difficult to explain this visit by the Constitutional Court president to the prime minister at the end of his term in any other way, especially under the constitutional order that formally exists in Armenia. Perhaps there might have been some way to explain it if the prime minister had visited the Constitutional Court and expressed his gratitude there. But it is the Constitutional Court president who, on the occasion of completing his term, visits an official from whom—and from whose institution, which he heads—the Constitutional Court must above all be independent.
On the other hand, the fact that Nikol Pashinyan has declared, “I am the government,” but has not yet said, “I am the Constitution,” does not mean that his authoritarian ambitions are confined to the government alone. Therefore, when he says that anyone who disagrees with him cannot remain in the government, it should also be understood that no one can remain in any other branch of government either. Arman Dilanyan, meanwhile, still has several years left to serve as an ordinary judge of the Constitutional Court.
Hakob BADALYAN
