In Armenia, opposition asks Ombudsman to challenge the emergency decree

On February 21, the oppositional Armenian National Congress (ANC) officially addressed Armenian Ombudsman Armen Arutyunyan with a request to challenge at the Constitutional Court the decree of the President of Armenia on introduction of the state of emergency in Yerevan starting March 1, 2008.

In the address to the Ombudsman, the ANC refers to the report of the public commission, which was set up to investigate the events on March 1, 2008. "The report contains indisputable facts on involvement of armed forces and military machines in domestic political processes. Article 56 of the Constitution of Armenia says that the President shall publish his decrees and orders, which cannot and should not contradict the Constitution and laws. Meanwhile, President Robert Kocharyan had broken the powers vested to him by the Constitution," the ANC's appeal runs.

After referring to a number of articles of the Constitution, the ANC concludes: "The decree of President Robert Kocharyan on involving armed forces in establishing the state of emergency is anti-constitutional. Thus, the rights of Armenian citizens were restricted by the state of emergency introduced by the anti-constitutional decree."

The Ombudsman told journalists that the decree in question had lost its force. "We should study the matter and decide whether we can address the Constitutional Court based on this ANC's appeal. We'll give an answer in a week: whether it is possible to challenge an invalidated decree in the Constitutional Court," Mr Arutyunyan has stated.