Zhoghovurd: Pashinyan may face public trial in Liberty Square, says former high court member

In an interview with ArmLur.am on Friday, a former member of the Constitutional Court, Kim Balayan, reaffirmed his earlier plan to initiate a public trial against Nikol Pashinyan, accuusing the prime minister of  “treacherous acts” that amounted to the handover of territories.

Balayan, who declared a hunger-strike on November 24, calling for a criminal proceeding against Pashinyan “on the grounds of overthrowing the constitutional order”, said the premier “did not have the right” to cede regions of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and Armenia to Azerbaijan under a statement with no legally binding effect. Balayan later ended his protest campaign but promised to continue the fact-finding activity” in collaboration with a team of lawyers (to proceed with the announced prosecution).  

In his latest comments, the former high court official did not even rule out the possibility of conducting a public trial in Yerevan’s Liberty Square.

Babayan said they have collected many facts but are still unwilling to get an official proceeding under way, “seeing the crimes committed by inaction” by the heads of law enforcement authorities (including the prosecutor general). He did not unveil specific timeframes either, expressing hope that the law enforcers will “come to their senses after all” to initiate the arrest. Balayan said that they have submitted their reprots, accusing the prime minister of crimes ranging from a breach of the constitutional order to high treason.

Asked to comment on the anti-government protests and calls for civil disobedience, Balayan refrained from elaborating on the political aspect of the issue.

 “That’s already a political activity. I am not engaged in politics. I deal exclusively with legal affairs,” he said.