Since March 1st, 2008, Kim Balayan’s Sons Keep Getting Promoted

Armenia’s Constitutional Court member Kim Balayan’s first son Davit Balayan, has received a promotion and been given the title of presiding judge of the Court of First Instance of Shengavit District, replacing Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan’s father. Until now, Davit Babayan was a judge at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Ajapnyak and Davtashen Administrative Districts.

The Zhoghovurt daily stresses that after the March 1st, 2008 incidents, Kim Balayan’s family members’ official promotions have not stopped. The paper recalled an unclassified document released by Wikileaks which stated that US embassy officials were approached by Valery Poghosyan, one of Armenia’s nine Constitutional Court justices, 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 alleging vote fraud in the disputed February 19 presidential election.

According to the document, Kim Balayan was then promised that his son Tigran Balayan would be given the position of the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if he voted for a verdict against Ter-Petrosyan. Balayan was later given the position.