Some legal experts insisted on Monday that the move constitutes illegal interference in the work of the judiciary.
Andreasian was among six senior state officials who tendered resignation on November 18 three days after Pashinian publicly lambasted Armenian courts and law-enforcement bodies for what he called their failure to end a lack of “justice” in the country. News reports said that the premier texted resignation messages to them on November 17.
In an interview with Armenian Public Television aired late on Friday, Pashinian said he “asked” Andreasian to step down as chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) because he and his political team “really want to have an independent judicial system.” He complained that a “small number of decisions [by courts] which cause a lot of noise and reaction have a negative impact on the entire judicial system and the sense of fairness and justice in Armenia.”
Pashinian mentioned unspecified court cases “dragging on for years,” seemingly referring to the protracted trials of former Armenian officials, notably ex-President Robert Kocharian, and asset seizure proceedings launched against them.
The SJC is a nominally independent body tasked with monitoring courts and protecting them against outside interference. Andreasin headed it for over two years amid opposition allegations that he is helping Pashinian suppress judicial independence under the guise of Western-backed “judicial reforms.” Critics say the fact that he was effectively ousted by Pashinian only proves that the judicial watchdog is controlled by the prime minister.
In his televised remarks, Pashinian said that he had “political, moral and legal” authority to make such a “request” to Andreasian. Two leading Armenian experts on constitutional law interviewed by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service claimed the opposite.
“The prime minister violated multiple articles of the Armenian constitution,” one of them, Vartan Poghosian, said, singling out a clause mandating separation of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.
Poghosian said that Pashinian’s comments warrant criminal proceedings against him. The other expert, Ara Ghazarian, likewise insisted that the premier illegally put pressure on the country’s top judicial officer.