The visit of the Armenian Constitutional Court’s Judges at the Constitutional Court has concluded
On 28 and 29 November, Justices of the Constitutional Court met with the Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia (hereafter – Armenia) in the framework of bilateral cooperation. In four working sessions, the parties discussed the most recent judicature of the Courts, the independence of judges, liability and immunity of public officials and also focused on the quality aspects of legislation.
An insight into the most recent judicature of the Courts was provided by President of the Constitutional Court of Latvia Ineta Ziemele and Judge of the Armenian Constitutional Court Arevik Petrosyan. Ineta Ziemele drew attention to two cases reviewed by the Constitutional Court, in which the Court revealed the content of human dignity as a constitutional value: case No. 2018-08-03 regarding lease payment for a grave and case No. 2017-02-03 regarding the threshold of noise in motor and auto racing tracks. She spoke also about the principle of defensive democracy and other findings made by the Constitutional Court in case No. 2017-25-01 regarding restriction on the election rights, as well as those Court’s findings that follow from cases No. 2016-14-01 and No. 2016-16-01, in which issues related to the solidarity tax and the field of taxation in general were examined. Judge Arevik Petrosyan, in turn, shared the experience of the Armenian Constitutional Court related to its judicature in the area of criminal law.
Delegation of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia with the delegation of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia. Photo: Toms Norde.
The theme of the independence of the judicial power and judges was presented by Judge of the Armenian Constitutional Court Ashot Khachatryan and Vice-president of the Latvian Constitutional Court Sanita Osipova. Judge Ashot Khachatryan provided an insight into the way matters related to the independence of judges and the judicial power were regulated in Armenia, whereas Sanita Ospiova revealed the Latvian experience through the Constitutional Court’s judicature, highlighting case No. 2012-16-01 regarding the prohibition for judges to be active in political parties, case No. 2015-10-01 regarding the prohibition for a judge to be an assistant to his or her disabled child, and case No. 2016-31-01 regarding a judge’s monthly remuneration defined in law.
The parties also discussed matters related to the liability and immunity of public officials. During the discussion about the commonalities and differences, Justice of the Latvian Constitutional Court Jānis Neimanis provided extensive insight into the Latvian situation. While discussing the aspects related to the quality of legislation, experience was shared by Judge of the Armenian Constitutional Court Alvina Gyulumyan and Judge of the Latvian Constitutional Court Gunārs Kusiņš.
At the end of the meeting, Ineta Ziemele underscored the informative importance of such events and thanked everyone for constructive and friendly discussions. President of the Armenian Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan thanked for the possibility to convene the meeting of Judges of both Court’s in Riga again after a decade and expressed the opinion that the meetings between parties encouraged an exchange of thoughts and new ideas that might become useful in the future in making better-considered decisions. He emphasised that experience sharing should be continued.
President of the Latvian Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele and President of the Armenian Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan. Photo: Toms Norde.
The aim of this bilateral meeting was to strengthen the judicial dialogue between courts of the Member States of the European Union and the third countries, to share experience and provide information on Latvia’s achievements in reinforcing the separation of powers and the rule of law in the state.
Judge Araik Tunyan and Chief of Staff Edgar Ghazaryan also were members of the Armenian Constitutional Court’s delegation. The delegation was accompanied by Third Secretary of the Embassy of Armenia in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia Misak Balayan.
Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia with the delegation of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia. Photo: Toms Norde.