CC chairman denies any close ties with second president Robert Kocharyan

Claims about my close ties with Robert Kocharyan are absurd, chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan said today in an interview with Armnews TV Channel.

“I have never shaken Robert Kocharyan’s hand, we have never been in the same room at the same time. We had a distant debate over 2015 Constitutional amendments, but it is of tertiary significance for me. Such allegations are from genre of absurd,” Tovmasyan said.

To the observation that Kocharyan’s lawyer Aram Orbelyan is his godchild, Tovmasyan said that this circumstance has never affected and will never affect his decision made as CC chairman.

To the observation that Tovmasyan has some expectations from the previous authorities, the chairman of the CC said, “What do I expect from the former authorities? To come and give me new post? I have this post. I do not have any tools to support them and bring them back to power. Especially when it is spoken about Robert Kocharyan. I had no relation to him,” Tovmasyan said.

“It all has zero influence on the decisions I make,” Tovmasyan said.

The CC chairman also said that the application to ECHR and Venice Commission for getting advisory opinion was written by the CC staff with his participation.

“Authorities are afraid of this opinion. You are afraid of different opinion that will contradict your political decisions,” Tovmasyan added.