Armenia's Constitutional Council distances itself from responsibility for the new Constitution

The Constitutional Council is not prepared to take final responsibility for the content of the draft of the new Constitution, and as a result the text will be published on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, which will be responsible for the content of the document.

Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan stated this in a conversation with journalists in parliament, Sputnik Armenia reports.

"My perception was that our colleagues are not ready to take responsibility. This concerns all colleagues collectively, not individual responsibility," the minister explained.

At the same time, members of the Constitutional Council will be able to freely express their comments on any provision of the draft. Galyan specified that about 70–80% of the articles of the new Constitution have already been discussed with the council, however its members are not yet familiar with the final version.

Commenting on the constitutional regulation concerning the Armenian Apostolic Church, Galyan stated that at this stage a decision has been made to retain the corresponding provision in the new draft.

At the same time, she emphasized that after publication the document will be put up for public discussion, so no provision can yet be considered final.

Touching upon the disagreements surrounding the mention of the Declaration of Independence in the new Constitution, the minister stated that some of the goals enshrined in it have lost their relevance (in March, Pashinyan stated that Armenia's new Constitution should not contain a reference to the Declaration of Independence, since this leads to conflict – ed.).

Speaking about the position of opponents, the minister stated that political forces should not hinder the holding of a constitutional referendum, since the final decision on the issue of the Constitution must be made by the citizens.