Armenian
News Network / Groong
Conversation on Groong: Conversation with Aram Vardevanyan
Hello and welcome to the Armenian
News Network, Groong, In this Conversations
on Groong episode, we’ll be talking about the constitutionality of the Nov.
9 agreement signed as a ceasefire to end the second war in Artsakh. We’ll also
discuss constitutional protections for checks and balances in the government of
Armenia, and the case against former presidents, from a high level.
This episode was recorded on Tuesday, January 12, 2021.
Since Nikol Pashinyan came to power in 2018, and prior to the Artsakh
war of 2020, issues around the Armenian constitution and constitutional court
have been in the center of public attention. These issues have been partly
fueled by one of the most prominent legal cases in recent Armenian history, the
March 1 trial against Armenian president Robert Kocharyan and military
leadership at the time. Today, we’ll have a conversation on issues surrounding
the March 1 case as well as legal and specifically constitutional questions
related to the Nov. 9 ceasefire declaration and subsequent events.
To talk about these issues, we are joined by:
|
Aram Vardevanyan, who is
the author of over 20 scholarly articles in the field of Constitutional Law,
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedural Law. He is a PhD in Law and is a member
of the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia. He’s founder and director of JP law
firm and from 2011-2018 he was in state service at the Ombudsman’s office and
the Constitutional Court. Vardevanyan is a member
of Robert Kocharyan’s legal team. |
|
About Robert Kocharyan’s criminal case: What is
the case about, its current status?
●
On the charge of overthrow of constitutional
order: why this claim isn’t valid?
●
On the 2nd charge of corruption.
Ever since the signing of the cease fire
declaration of November 9, the Armenian opposition, religious leadership, and
large segments of society have been critical of the action.
For the past two months since, despite Prime
Minister Pashinyan’s denials, Armenian and
Azerbaijani military teams have been negotiating and meeting in a process of
demarcating and delineating the international borders between the two
countries. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the two countries have never
recognized their borders. Although the November 9 Agreement did not say
anything about recognizing international borders, it appears that some
unwritten agreements are committing the Prime Minister to this process.
Some have claimed that Pashinyan’s
signing of the ceasefire as well as subsequent actions, such as the border
demarcation/delineation process are illegal. Is the authority to change borders
vested in a single person, or does the parliament also have to agree to it?
--
Ever since Nov. 9, the calls for Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation
have grown. Is a vote of no-confidence in the national assembly the only way to
remove an acting prime minister? What about a hypothetical scenario where the
PM is under criminal investigation? Is the PM’s immunity absolute? Does the
precedent for exceptions to constitutional immunity in the Robert Kocharyan
case also have implications for actively serving heads of government?
--
There are currently an unspecified number of
Armenian prisoners of war being held in Baku. The Armenian government so far
has not been successful in releasing them, despite this being one of the points
in the Nov. 9 declaration. Meanwhile, the Armenian government is not releasing
information to the media exactly how many prisoners we have in Baku, claiming
this is a state secret. What is your opinion on this? What legal principles and
rights are at play here?
--
Not sure if you’ve had a chance to talk to Robert Kocharyan about this, but
what is his level of interest and plans on entering politics again.
That concludes this Conversations On
Groong episode. We hope it was
helpful in your understanding of some of the issues involved. We look forward
to your feedback, including your suggestions for Conversation topics in
the future. Contact us on our website, at groong.org,
or on our Facebook Page “ANN - Groong”,
or in our Facebook Group “Groong - Armenian News Network”.
Special thanks to Laura
Osborn for providing the music for our podcast. On behalf of everyone in this
episode, we wish you a good week. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channels,
Like our pages and follow us on social media. Thank you for listening and we’ll
talk to you soon.
Robert Kocharyan, Nikol
Pashinyan, Aram Vardevanyan,
Armenia, Constitutional Court, Azerbaijan, POW, War, Corruption.
