Armenian prosecutors are seeking a seven-year prison sentence for Hrair Tovmasian, a judge of the Constitutional Court, who faces charges of abusing his official powers in connection with alleged real estate fraud.
Tovmasian, who was removed from his role as chairman of the Constitutional Court following a constitutional amendment in 2020 but continued to serve as a judge, denies the charges. He claims that authorities warned him to resign from the court or face criminal prosecution.
In December 2019, Tovmasian was accused of using a proxy to take control of two notary offices and leasing them back to the notaries while he was serving as justice minister.
If convicted before December, Tovmasian will be required to serve his sentence. Although the statute of limitations for the alleged crime would apply after December, he would still have to step down from his current judicial position, according to Prosecutor Arsen Margarian, who spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“Under the law governing the Constitutional Court, an indictment, its legal confirmation, or even the cessation of criminal prosecution on non-exonerative grounds prevents one from holding the position of a judge,” Margarian stated.
Tovmasian’s legal team has long argued that as a Constitutional Court member elected under the 2005 Constitution, he is immune from prosecution and can only be charged with the court’s consent.
However, Prosecutor Margarian argued that Tovmasian’s immunity does not extend to this case, as it pertains to actions taken before he became a judge.
“The alleged crimes are unrelated to the duties of the Constitutional Court. The charges involve actions purportedly committed while he was serving as justice minister, a period during which he did not have immunity,” Margarian explained.
Over the past four years, Tovmasian has made few public comments about the case, and filming of court proceedings has been prohibited at his request. At the trial’s outset, he denied the charges, describing the case against him as politically motivated.
“I was warned about this six months ago. I was told that if I did not take specific steps, I would eventually be charged, and those steps meant resignation,” he claimed.
Tovmasian, a close political ally of former President Serzh Sarkisian and the architect of the current Constitution, was elected chairman of the Constitutional Court in 2018, shortly before widespread protests led to Sarkisian’s resignation and the rise of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan.
Following Pashinyan’s ascent to power, his government initiated constitutional amendments that led to Tovmasian’s removal as chairman of the Constitutional Court in 2020, though Tovmasian remained a judge. Three other Constitutional Court judges appointed under the previous administration were also dismissed through the same process.
Tovmasian’s lawyer, Aram Orbelian, who is currently on vacation, has not yet commented on the prosecutors’ recent demand for a seven-year prison sentence.
