Armenian activists to dispute pension bill in Constitutional Court

The Armenian civic activists protesting against the controversial bill on the compulsory pension accumulation system are going to apply to the Constitutional Court to dispute the measure.

The campaigners claim that several provisions in the bill conflict with the country's basic law.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, one of the protesters, Harutyun Adamyan, addressed some of the provisions, which they deem unconstitutional.

“The Constitution says that any law has to be targeted at social well-being. But this [draft] law affects the minimal salary too. So that already conflicts with the Constitution. The Constitution says that a citizen is free to control his or her means, but the law makes the [social] payments compulsory. Yes, the government says it is transferred to individual accounts, but [a citizen] cannot control it at any moment, unless he or she is terminally ill and there is no option,” he complained.