ECHR rejects motion to apply interim measure to chairman and judges of Armenia's high court

The European Court of Human Rights has passed its decision dealing with alleged abuses in Armenia's Constitutional Court, rejecting a motion for applying an interim measure to CC Chair Hrayr Tovmasyan and three judges.

Tovmasyan and the three other applicants in the case Gyulumyan and others vs. Armenia (Alvina Gyulumyan, Felix Tokhyan and Hrant Nazaryan) requested, in particular, that the Court urge the Armenian Government to suspend the constitutional amendments to maintain the judges' tenure until the examination of the appeals alleging a violation of rights.

In its justification, the ECHR stated that the motion was outside the scope of application of Rule 39 of the Rules of Court (given that it did not contain a risk of a serious and irretrievable damage as prescribed by the European Convention on Human Rights).

But the Court took the applications under proceeding in respect of violations of rights.

The applicants insisted that the constitutional reforms obstructing their tenure were "arbitrary and adopted in violation of the national laws".

The reforms in question call for the dismissal of those judges whose tenure expires the established 12-year period and the terminating the powers of Tovmasyan as the CC chair to appoint him an ordinary judge.