A major opposition party pushed on Monday for an emergency session of the Armenian parliament after criticizing a blockade of the country’s courts initiated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
The Bright Armenia Party (LHK), one of the two opposition groups represented in the National Assembly, demanded such a session late on Sunday after Pashinian urged supporters to block the entrances to all court buildings and help establish “the people’s power” over the judiciary. An LHK statement said the unprecedented protests will disrupt “the administration of justice for thousands of people” and thus violate their constitutional rights as well as Armenia’s international obligations.
The LHK insisted on the holding of a parliament debate on the issue even after the protesters’ unblocked access to the courts at Pashinian’s urging on Monday afternoon. One of its leaders, Gevorg Gorgisian, said it will try to collect enough signatures of parliament deputies to force the debate on Tuesday.
The LHK holds only 16 seats in the 132-member parliament. Its initiative needs the backing of at least some deputies from the ruling My Step bloc and the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).
Gorgisian said he has already met with senior My Step and BHK parliamentarians in an effort to enlist their support for the parliament session. “I have not yet received a final answer from them,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “I think they will join in. At least, Prosperous Armenia will join in, I think.”
The BHK as well as other opposition forces have denounced the court blockade as unconstitutional.
Speaking earlier on Monday, Pashinian demanded a mandatory “vetting” of all judges. He said many of them must resign before even such a process because they are not trusted by the public.
Gorgisian seemed unconvinced by those statements, while stressing that the LHK stands for “radical changes” in Armenia’s judicial system. “If there are judges who have handed down illegal verdicts, taken bribes or done this or that they should have simply been punished through relevant laws,” he said.
Gorgisian also dismissed Pashinian’s arguments that the courts must submit to the will of “the people.” “Who says that they are the people?” he said of the government backers who gathered outside court buildings in the morning. “The people are all citizens of the Republic of Armenia.”
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