ArmInfo. The ruling "Civil Contract" faction did not take part in the secret ballot held on March 22 on the draft appeal of the RA National Assembly to the Constitutional Court demanding the termination of the powers of the Constitutional Court Judge Seda Safaryan.
Earlier today, the "Armenia" opposition faction also took an initiative. Secretary of faction Artsvik Minasyan pointed to the statement of lawyers Arsen Babayan and Sos Hakobyan, which provided justifications that Seda Safaryan violated the requirements for judges of the CC on incompatibility with another type of activity. Meanwhile, according to lawyers, Seda Safaryan combined the work of a member of the Constitutional Court with entrepreneurial activity, in this case, with advocacy, which is prohibited by law.
The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia elected Seda Safaryan as a judge of the Constitutional Court of Armenia on September 15, she took office on December 16. "Within a month, that is, until January 16, Safaryan was supposed to officially renounce her status as an individual entrepreneur, but she did it only on January 27, that is, she was 11 days late," Minasyan noted.
In turn, MP from the ruling "Civil Contract" faction Arusyak Julakyan stated that on November 30, Safaryan submitted a petition to the Chamber of Advocates to suspend her lawyer's license, starting from December 8. In fact, she has suspended her advocacy since December 5. On December 16, she filed an application with the State Revenue Committee to suspend her practice as a lawyer for an indefinite period. Based on this, according to Julakyan, it can be stated that Safaryan made reasonable efforts to fix the termination of business activities.
It should be noted that out of 107 MPs, only 30 parliamentarians representing the opposition took part in the secret ballot. As a result, the appeal to the Constitutional Court did not receive the required number of votes. Seda Safaryan was nominated as a candidate member of the Constitutional Court by the ruling "Civil Contract" faction. On September 15 last year, she was elected a member of the Constitutional Court by a majority vote of the MPs. Seda Safaryan is known as a lawyer representing the interests of the demonstrators who suffered in 2008 in the case against former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. She took part in the 2021 parliamentary elections as part of the Shirinyan-Babajanyan democrats alliance, acting from a pro-Western position.