"Hraparak": "Bribing" the Constitutional Court

The “Hraparak” newspaper writes: “Nikol Pashinyan intends to increase the already high salaries of the judges and the president of the Constitutional Court. The president of the Constitutional Court currently receives 1 million 331 thousand drams, it is proposed to increase it by 100 thousand. After the increase, the vice-president of the Constitutional Court will receive as much as the president now. The judges will receive 1 million 250 thousand instead of the current 998 thousand drams.

The law will also establish a 100 percent bonus to the salary of a Constitutional Court judge. Why did Pashinyan decide to “bribe” the Constitutional Court? The justification is as follows: “The remuneration of Constitutional Court judges, in its structure and size, is not commensurate with their high legal status, the scope of their constitutional powers, and the high degree of responsibility inherent in their activities.

"Taking into account the constitutional mission of the Constitutional Court judges, their high level of responsibility, and their differentiated scope of authority, it is necessary to ensure a differentiated mechanism for the basic salary, as well as for the additional payment, in line with this."

In fact, before the peace treaty was signed, Pashinyan decided to "buy" the loyalty of the body that approved the treaty. As a result, an additional 138 million drams, or $300,000, will be allocated annually from the taxpayers' pockets.