2010

November 26, 2010

RECEPTION IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

On November 26 the President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia G. Harutyunyan received the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Armenia Vyacheslav Kovalenko.
The conversation was around the current development of the constitutional justice in the Republic of Armenia, the cooperation between the Constitutional Courts of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia, as well as the Armenian-Russian relations. The programs were outlined for the further cooperation.
Advisor to the Ambassador of the Russian Federation A. Minzhurenko and Head of Staff of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia A. Hakobyan participated at this meeting.

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October 22, 2010

XV YEREVAN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

On October 22 the XV Yerevan International Conference on Safeguarding and protection of human constitutional rights in the practice of constitutional justice, taking into account the legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights started.
The organizers of the Conference were the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, the European Court of Human Rights, the European Commission For Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission of the Council of Europe), the Conference of constitutional control organs of the countries of young democracy with participation of International Association of Constitutional Law and with support of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).
This year traditionally organized annual Conference was dedicated to the 15th Anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.
The RA President of the Constitutional Court Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan and the President of the Venice Commission Mr. Gianni Buquicchio had opening speeches.
Mr. Harutyunyan in his opening speech has emphasized the importance of the choice of the topic of the Conference and the necessity of the future development of the institute of individual applications before the Constitutional Court. He found symbolizing the participation of tree judges of the European Court of Human Rights to the Conference, highlighted the attitude of the Venice Commission that a year ago at its Plenary Meeting has initiated the preparation of comprehensive discussion of the issue, aiming to identify the main trends of European developments and clarify the basic criteria of reforms in this sphere. Mr. Harutyunyan expressed confidence that the XV Conference would be a great contribution to realization of the further active steps toward ensuring the effective guarantees for exercising the human right to constitutional justice.
Mr. Didier Maus, President of the International Association of Constitutional Law and Mr. Hans-Jochen Schmidt, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Armenia had greeting speeches.
At the first session of the Conference on Interaction of European Court of Human Rights and national systems of constitutional justice in safeguarding and protection of Human Rights the Judges of the European Court of Human Rights Ms. Ann Power, Mr. David Thor Bjorgvinsson and Ms. Alvina Gyulumyan, President of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Mr. Valeri Zorkin, Associate Justice of the State Council of the Hellenic Republic Mr. Vassilis Androulakis, President of the Constitutional Court of Moldova Mr. Dumitru Pulbere, Member of the Constitutional Court of Georgia Ms. Lali Papiashvili, Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Luxembourg Mr. George Ravarani and Judge of the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria Ms. Stefka Stoeva made presentations.
The first session was ended by the key discussions of the presentations and by the questions and answers.
The topic of the second session of the Conference was the following Peculiarities of functioning and problems of improvement of capability of institution of an individual complaint. The presentations were made by the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan, President of the International Association of Constitutional Law Mr. Didier Maus, Secretary General of the Constitutional Court of the FYR of Macedonia Ms. Milica Nikolavska, and Justice of the Constitutional Court of Latvia Mrs. Aija Branta.
The discussion of the topic was continued by the questions and answers.
On October 23 the XV Yerevan International Conference will be continued. The topics of the two sessions are the following: Procedural aspects of improvement of the system of an individual constitutional complaint and Peculiarities and problems of implementation of constitutional court decisions adopted on the basis of an individual constitutional complaint.
The results of the Conference will be summarized by the President of the IACL Mr. Didier Maus and the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan.

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On October 21 the President of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Mr. Valeri Zorkin, who was in Armenia with the official visit, had a meeting with the RA Constitutional Court members, representatives of the Court of Cassation, Court of Appeal and Administrative Court at the RA Constitutional Court.
G. Harutyunyan and V. Zorkin gave the importance to the positive effect of the close cooperation of two courts, as well as the activity toward the exchange of experience and information. Mr. Zorkin kindly answered the questions on the activity of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

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October 11, 2010

Separation of Powers and Independence of Constitutional Courts in Conditions of Societal Transformation.
Communication of the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, Bureau Member of the World Conference, Professor Mr. G. Harutyunyan at the 2nd Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice.
(Rio de Janeiro, January 16-18, 2011)
(in Russian)

October 8, 2010

THE SEVENTH JOINT SEMINAR

On October 8 the 7th seminar on "Principal Provisions of German Doctrine of Fundamental Rights" took place at the RA Constitutional Court. The program Consultation for legal and judicial reforms in the South Caucasus (GTZ Program) and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia organized this seminar for the members and staff of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.
The RA Constitutional Court President Mr. G. Harutyunyan, Head of the Program Mr. Vardan Poghosyan, and Head of the Chair of State and Administrative Law of Cologne University, Doctor, Professor Mr. Michael Sachs made greeting speeches.
The seminar sessions were chaired by the RA Constitutional Court President Mr. G. Harutyunyan, the key reporter of the seminar was Mr. Michael Sachs.
Why is the discussion of this topic important nowadays? If at the similar previous seminars the activity and experience of the German Federal Constitutional Court were presented in comparison with our legal system, this seminar's topic is directly concerned to the cases considered and to be considered at the RA Constitutional Court on the legal disputes based on the individual complaints. Focusing on this aspect, Mr. G. Harutyunyan in his greeting speech gave importance to the role of this seminar, presence of the key reporter Mr. M. Sachs, who carries authority among lawyers and constitutionalists, confirmed the expectations that a range of important questions would find their exhaustive answers at this seminar. Especially, how to understand the direct action of constitutional rights, what is the state limited by these rights, as an immediately acting right, how they are comprehended and exercised in the judicial practice, what kind of attitude should the Constitutional Court express to the comments to those rights, in these circumstances which is the differentiated attitude to fundamental and other subjective rights, whether they have the same guarantees of constitutional protection, which is the role of these nuances in the practice of constitutional justice, etc.
Such other questions found their exhaustive answers in the key report of the seminar through discussions, comparison of two countries' experience, which was expected from the seminar. Professor M. Sachs' key report was previously translated into Armenian and distributed among the seminar participants, which promoted to more active and effective discussions.
Professor M. Sachs highly evaluated interesting and useful historical reference to the process of formation of the Armenian doctrine that Mr. Harutyunyan made.
The RA Constitutional Court President Mr. G. Harutyunyan, summarizing the results of the seminar, expressed his appreciation to Mr. M. Sachs for the participation and very interesting and useful report, as well as to the administration of the Program Consultation for legal and judicial reforms in the South Caucasus, and mentioned that through organization of such activities the cooperation with the Program would be continued.

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September 23, 2010

CONTINUOUS COOPERATION

On September 23 the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, Coordinating President of the Board of Pan-Armenian Conference of Lawyers Mr. G. Harutyunyan received the delegation of the Board of Armenian Bar Association in the USA, that is the Chair of the Association Edvin Minassian, Vice-President of the Association Karo Ghazarian, Judge Zaven Sinanyan and Lawyer Armen Hovhannisyan. It should be noted that the Board of Pan-Armenian Conference of Lawyers was established during the First Pan-Armenian Forum on "Armenian legal thought and the challenges of the 21st Century", which was held on 19-20 September, 2009 in Yerevan. The Board is composed of 13 members from Armenia, 3 - from Nagorno-Karabakh, 27 - from the Diaspora.
Mr. G. Harutyunyan has got acquainted the guests with the reforms of the legal system of the Republic of Armenia and introduced the further programmatic approaches for cooperation between the Pan-Armenian Conference of Lawyers and American Bar Association. Besides, they discussed issues on the joint organization of the International Conference to be held in April 2011 in Stepanakert.

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September 6, 2010

UN WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION AT THE CONTITUTIONAL COURT

On September 6, 2010, the President of the RA Constitutional Court Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan received the UN working group on arbitrary detention headed by Mr. El Hadji Malick Sou.
The conversation was about the Armenian judicial system, its reforms, as well as the RA Constitutional Court, its correlation with the activity of lawyers, and, in general, the issues of future development of the general judicial system of Armenia.

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August 27, 2010

Presentation of the RA Constitutional Court President Mr. G. Harutyunyan at the International Scientific Conference in Astana on 27 August 2010 on the following subject "Constitution basis of the democratic development of the state".
(in Russian)

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August 25, 2010

On August 25, by the invitation of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the President of the RA Constitutional Court Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan left for Astana.
On the solemn ceremony, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Harutyunyan will have a greeting speech as the President of the Conference of organs of constitutional control of the countries of young democracy.
On August 27-28 an international conference takes place in Astana, where the President of the RA Constitutional Court is going to make a presentation on the main issues of constitutional developments in the post-soviet region.
During the visit Mr. Harutyunyan is going to have working meetings with the President and members of the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan, as well as with the colleagues from other countries.

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July 14, 2010

On July 14 the President of the RA Constitutional Court Mr. G. Harutyunyan received the State Regulator and Ombudsman of Israel Mr. Mikha Lindenshtraus

On July 14 the President of the RA Constitutional Court Mr. G. Harutyunyan received the State Regulator and Ombudsman of Israel Mr. Mikha Lindenshtraus.
Mr. Harutyunyan introduced the guest the the activity of the Constitutional Court and clarified the involvement of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia as an applicant, as well as the consideration of applications submitted by the later as result of constitutional amendments. The President has greeted the close cooperation between the Human Rights Defenders of two countries.
Mikha Lindenshtraus, in his turn, introduced the activity of his structure and mentioned that the aim of his visit to Armenia is the will to strengthen the relations between two countries.
The RA Human Rights Defender Armen Harutyunyan also participated at this meeting.

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July 14, 2010

Official Visit

On July 14 the delegation of the Republic of Armenia, headed by the RA Constitutional Court G. Harutyunyan, on invitation of the President of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, made an official visit to Belgrade. From 15 to 18 July the delegation will be hosted by the President of the Constitutional Court and have meetings with the judges and the Staff of the Constitutional Court, the President of the Administrative and Legislative Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic and the Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia.
At the end of visit a Press Conference of the Presidents of the Constitutional Courts of two countries will be held.

Press Service of the CC

June 17, 2010

On June 17 President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia received UN reporter on Human Rights Defender situation in the country Mrs. Margaret Sekagyan, who had a mission to prepare the report.
They have spoken of democracy process, judicial-legal reforms, and issues regarding human rights protection in the Republic of Armenia.

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May 31, 2010

THE 6 SEMINAR FINISHED

The sixth seminar on Direct action of the Constitution in the field of constitutional and constitutional procedural law organised in cooperation with program Consultation for legal and judicial reforms in the South Caucasus the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia has finished.
During two-day seminar 6 reports of Judge of the Republic of German Federation, key-reporter Mr. Bartone were made and discussed and the numerous questions given to the key-reporter received comprehensive answers.
Its a great pleasure and honor, - said the key-reporter Mr. R. Bartone at the closing of the seminar, - to be at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia and to speak before such audience. Simultaneously, these discussions are instructive for me, too. I will be very happy if my thoughts and ideas expressed during this activity are useful for the participants in their further work-experience.
The program consultant of Consultation for legal and judicial reforms in the South Caucasus Mr. G. Muradyan, in its turn, noted:
- Such seminars imply the mutual enrichment of knowledge. In the name of the program, I can guarantee that the seminars will be continued and a very important three-day seminar dedicated to the doctrine of human rights theory will be held in October and the speaker will be the outstanding constitutionalist of Germany Mr. Saks.

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May 28, 2010

Some Deformations of the Constitutional-Legal Development of the Post-Soviet States.
G. Harutyunyan's Report at the international scientific conference held on 28 May 2010 in St. Petersburg "The General and Singular in the Modern Economic and Constitutional-Legal Development of the Post-Soviet States", in Russian.

May 26, 2010

THE NEXT 6th SEMINAR

On May 26 the sixth seminar, organised in cooperation with the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia and program Consultation for legal and judicial reforms in the South Caucasus, took place at the RA Constitutional Court. During two-day seminar following topics, headed under the general title Direct action of the Constitutionhad been put for discussion: Direct action of the Constitution in the Armenian law, Direct action of constitutional norms in German law, Comparison of norms of the Basic Law of Germany and the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia with combination of direct action, Implementation of legal norm with the view of legal methodical doctrine, Interpretation of legal norm in the light of fundamental rights.
Seminars are basically organised for the staff of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, but they are open and advocates, politicians and citizens are participating to it. These seminars are very important to raise the legal consciousness of the participants.
In Germany, due to the legislative solutions and the law-enforcement practice, a system of constitutional justice has been established, where as theoretical legal thinking, as well as legislative solutions and law-enforcement practice are in such level of development, that it can be considered as the classic system with its internal integrity, effectiveness of activity, establishment of constitutionality in the country.
Testifying such successes of Germans, in his greeting speech RA Constitutional Court President Mr. G. Harutyunyan gave importance to such cooperation, which is aimed to deeply study the German experience, to compare it with our system, to find further effective ways for its development in our country. They concern to the constitutional and legislative further amendments and the practice of constitutional justice.
Choosing as the main topic of the 6th seminar the fundamental problems of direct action of constitutional norms, it was expected by the comparison of the discussions, jointly gained experiences to make clarifications, to find out how the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia could guarantee direct action of constitutional norms and the human rights as direct-acting rights through its legal positions and further possible reforms.
Through the organization of such seminars, - said Mr. G. Harutyunyan, - we try to achieve such system results in the sphere of constitutional justice that exist in the German Federation. All our contacts, not only with Germans, but also with our colleagues from different countries, are bringing to a conclusion that this system could act more effectively if the necessary prerequisites are created for the system solutions.
The program consultant Mr. Grigor Muradyan and the Judge of the Republic of German Federation Mr. Roberto Bartone made opening speeches at the seminar.
Reports and discussion on the above-mentioned topics were made during the seminar. The key-reporter was Mr. Roberto Bartone.

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April 17, 2010

FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARMENIAN CONSTITUTIONALISM.
Report of the G. Harutyunyan at the International Seminar invited in Stepanakert.
(in Armenian)

April 6, 2010

PROSECUTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT OF HAGUE IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

In the framework of the international seminar on Justice: new challenges held in Yerevan Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of Hague Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo visited the Constitutional Court and met Mr. G. Harutyunyan.
Receiving the guest, Constitutional Court President made him acquainted with constitutional justice developments, especially the fundamental problems, concerning those cases on which the norms of laws were recognized contradictory and invalid (24 cases during last three years), were discussed.
The both interlocutors gave a great importance to the problem of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the provision of guarantees of supremacy of law by effective use of international experience and possibilities.

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April 6, 2010

The greeting speech of the RA Constitutional Court President Mr. G. Harutyunyan at the International seminar on Justice: new challenges held in Yerevan.
(in Armenian)

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March 31, 2010

AMBASSADOR OF THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

On March 31 President of the Constitutional Court G. Harutyunyan received the new-appointed Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Peoples Republic of China to the Republic of Armenia Mr. Tian Changchun.
The visit of the Ambassador was cognitive, and Mr. Harutyunyan made acquainted the guest with the Constitutional Court and its activity. The conversation mainly went about two countries relations since 1992, when the first state official from the newly independent Armenia who visited China for establishing the relations between these countries, was Mr. G. Harutyunyan, as Vice-president and Prime-minister of the Republic of Armenia. The both exchanged the opinions on ArmenianChinese continually developing relations, the investments made by the Chinese businessmen in Armenia, as well as on the relations between the RA Constitutional Court and the Supreme Peoples Court of the Peoples Republic of China.

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