On May 29, Artsakh Armenians gathered outside the Artsakh Representative Office, demanding that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan apologize not only to detained Artsakh resident Arthur Osipyan but also to other Artsakh Armenians for calling them “those who fled.”
The gathering also focused on the voting rights of Artsakh Armenians. Addressing participants, lawyer Roman Yeritsyan reiterated that Artsakh Armenians can take part in the upcoming elections, Factor.am reported.
In recent days, the lawyer has published several posts on Facebook, emphasizing that court rulings already exist under which Artsakh Armenians who have not yet formally acquired Armenian citizenship can exercise their voting rights.
“Four individuals sought judicial protection, demanding inclusion in voter lists. The claims of three of them were upheld by court rulings, and those decisions enter into force immediately upon publication and are not subject to review or appeal. The rejection of one claim was based solely on the conclusion that the dispute should be examined through administrative rather than civil proceedings. In other words, the court did not say that an Artsakh Armenian lacks voting rights. The other three rulings clearly establish that an Artsakh Armenian has voting rights regardless of possessing a passport with the ‘070’ code or whether they have accepted Armenian citizenship,” the lawyer explained.
Yeritsyan pointed out that under the Law on Citizenship, only citizens of the Republic of Armenia may hold an Armenian passport. Therefore, if an Artsakh Armenian possesses a passport stating on its first page that the holder is a citizen of Armenia, that citizenship can be terminated only through procedures prescribed by law.
“It is impossible to terminate citizenship by any other means. No law or normative legal act provides that citizenship may be terminated by a government decision. This is the logic of the court’s ruling. The court says that if you granted that person Armenian citizenship, or if that person possesses Armenian citizenship, it cannot be revoked by a government decision. Since the Constitution and the Electoral Code grant Armenian citizens the right to participate and vote in National Assembly elections, Artsakh Armenians can, by this straightforward logic, participate in the upcoming elections,” Yeritsyan said.
The lawyer’s claims have recently been challenged by Armenia’s Migration and Citizenship Service. Agency head Nelly Davtyan stressed that obtaining Armenian citizenship is the only way to acquire the right to participate in elections.
Referring to the court decisions, the service emphasized that such matters fall within the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court rather than the Civil Court.
During the gathering, Roman Yeritsyan described the agency’s statement as “absurd.”
“The statement issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs is, in the literal sense of the word, an insult, because the court clearly stated in its decision that it enters into force upon publication, is final and not subject to appeal. The ministry ignored this and says otherwise. What is even more surprising is that the Ministry of Internal Affairs appealed a decision that is not appealable. The next development, which caused me great astonishment, was that the Court of Appeal immediately accepted proceedings on an unappealable decision. Under the previous procedural code, appellate courts could accept such complaints if there appeared to be a judicial error or a violation of constitutional rights, regardless of whether the decision was appealable. Under the new procedural code, the Court of Appeal no longer has such authority. Nevertheless, it swiftly accepted the complaint for consideration, stating that there were no grounds to return or reject it,” he said.
Participants in the gathering also discussed the condition of Artsakh Armenian Arthur Osipyan, who has been on a hunger strike for the past 11 days.
The election campaign that began on May 8 will continue until June 5. June 6 will be a day of silence, while voting will take place on June 7. On May 25, it became known that the Alliance Progressive Centrist Party had submitted a withdrawal request, after which the Central Electoral Commission annulled the registration of the party’s electoral list. As a result, ballot paper number 13 will not appear in the upcoming elections.
