2 Constitutional Court Members to Leave Office. One Secretly Talked about Levon Ter-Petrossian’s 2008 Lawsuit

The powers of two members of Armenia's Constitutional Court will soon be revoked, reports local news provider Pastinfo.am [AM], noting that since Manuk Topuzyan turns 65 today (and Constitutional Court members hold office until the age of 65), he will have to leave his position after his last case is closed, which is scheduled for June 3.

The age restriction will apply also to Constitutional Court member Valeriy Poghosyan, who on March 25 will turn 70. Poghosyan has been a Constitutional Court member since 1996, the date the Constitutional Court was formed, which is why the old clause of the 2005 constitutional amendments — that Constitutional Court members hold office until the age of 70 — applies to him.

Recall, in 2011, WikiLeaks released a US cable in which US Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) to Armenia Joseph Pennington in a letter dated Mar. 7, 2008, said that US embassy officials were approached by Valeriy Poghosyan on Mar. 6, 2008, for a secret meeting in which he declared that then president of Armenia Robert Kocharian fixed the court’s upcoming Mar. 8 decision to decide against the complaint by ex-president Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP) alleging vote fraud in the disputed February 19, 2008 presidential election.