Epress.am News from Armenia
Attorney Meri Khachatryan, who participated in the Constitutional Court examination of the funded pension system, believes that Republican Party of Armenia MP Davit Harutyunyan and Constitutional Court member Felix Tokhyan are manipulating the citizens of Armenia in their interpretation of yesterday's Court ruling. Note, both men said that despite the Court recognizing certain provisions of the law (including the mandatory component) as unconstitutional, citizens must continue to make mandatory pension payments until Sept. 30.
On her Facebook page, Khachatryan cited the wording of the Court ruling, asking the public to read it carefully:
"Paragraph 6 of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia [RA] 02/04/2014 decision: The disputed provision of Sections 2–10 of Article 7; Articles 8, 37, 38, and 45; Section 2 of Article 49; and Article 86 of the Law on Mandatory Pensions of the Republic of Armenia correspond to the RA Constitution, within the scope of the legal positions expressed by the Constitutional Court in this decision, with the constitutional-legal content, according to which the envisioned legal acts cannot have at their basis, be interpreted and applied without discretion in the context of legal regulation that implies the restriction of their right to property, and the rights of the pension fund managers should be implemented only in accordance with the principle of balancing equal obligations.
"Point 7 of the Decision: Taking into account that the RA Law on Funded Pension, particularly the provisions recognized as contradicting the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia by points 1–5 in the conclusion of this decision in systematic terms are linked with around 50 laws of the Republic of Armenia and legal regulations stipulated by more than 80 other normative legal acts, many provisions of which on the basis of this decision and prescribed by law are subject to review, as well as considering the requirement of the law regarding not undermining the legal security in systemic terms, on the basis of Section 3 of Article 102 of the RA Constitution and Section 15 of Article 68 of the RA Law on the Constitutional Court, this decision sets September 30, 2014, as the deadline by which the legal instruments recognized as contradicting the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia will lose their effect, giving an opportunity to the RA Government and the RA National Assembly, within their jurisdiction, to have the legal language of the law on mandatory pension comply with the requirements of this decision."
According to the attorney, we can conclude that point 6 takes effect from the date it is made public, since point 7 clearly says that the sections that refer to points 1–5 of the decision will be reviewed and brought in line with the RA Constitution.
"And the section on point 7, I beg you, people […], read it carefully: it will be applied only with your written consent… read it carefully, I'm going crazy, and the phone won't stop ringing. Mr. Tokhyan and Mr. Harutyunyan resorted to manipulation, don't succumb to provocations — this is literally shameful…" she wrote.
Photo from silent rally in front of the Constitutional Court building on March 28.