ARM-2003-2-004
a)  Armenia / b)  Constitutional Court / c) / d)  15-07-2003 / e)  DCC-437 / f)  Conformity with the Constitution of obligations provided by Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty / g)  Tegekagir ( Official Gazette) / h)  CODICES (French).
 
Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
 
 
Sources - Hierarchy - Hierarchy as between national and non-national sources - European Convention on Human Rights and constitutions.
Institutions - Legislative bodies - Powers - Competences with respect to international agreements.
Fundamental Rights - General questions - Limits and restrictions.
Fundamental Rights - General questions - Limits and restrictions - Non-derogable rights.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Right to life.
 
Keywords of the alphabetical index:
 
Death penalty, abolition.
 
Headnotes:
 
The Constitution of Armenia permits the death penalty as a "temporary" and "exclusive" punishment and meanwhile leaves the issue of determination or non determination of death penalty for certain serious offenses to the discretion of the National Assembly.
 
The National Assembly thus has the power to abolish death penalty not only by appropriate amendments in the national legislation, but also by ratification of an international legal instrument, in the given case, by ratification of Protocol no. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty.
 
Summary:
 
The hearing of the case was prompted by an application by the President of Armenia to the Constitutional Court concerning the conformity with the Constitution of the obligations assumed under the above-mentioned Protocol.
 
The Constitutional Court stated that when becoming a party to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols no. 1, 4 and 7, Armenia had assumed an obligation to establish supremacy of law in the country and fulfil reforms of state institutes and continued democratisation of social and political life in order to make them compatible with the standards existing in European countries.
 
After declaring its independence, Armenia become a party to most important universal and regional international treaties on protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, recognised a human being, his or her life and health, honor and dignity, personal integrity as a supreme social value.
 
The highest legal guarantee of protection of human rights is the Constitution. The system of rights guaranteed by the Constitution includes also the right to life. The Constitution, recognising this right as an absolute and unalienable right, provides in Article 45, that this right cannot be restricted in any circumstance. The right to life is enshrined in Article 17 of the Constitution, which provides for only one derogation from the protection of this right, in respect to death penalty. According to this provision, "death penalty, until its abolition, may be prescribed by lawfor particular serious offenses, as an exceptional punishment".
 
The Constitutional Court held, that a systematic analysis of the Constitution, as well as of the content of international treaties concluded by Armenia, indicated, that the Republic rejected the death penalty as a kind of punishment and provided for the abolition of the death penalty as a goal.
 
Taking into account that according to Article 62 of the Constitution, the legislative power is exercised by the National Assembly, the Constitution leaves the issue of determination or non determination of the use of the death penalty for certain serious offences to the discretion of the National Assembly. The latter may abolish the death penalty not only by appropriate amendments in the national legislation, but also by ratification of an international legal instrument, including international treaties which provide for punishments other than those provided by the national legislation.
 
The Constitutional Court held, that the discussion and solution of the issue of ratification of any international treaty abolishing death penalty is fully within the powers of the National Assembly, as Article 17 of the Constitution conditioned the issue of temporary existence of death penalty with the will of the National Assembly, which has a power to abolish death penalty not only by making amendments in the national legislation, but also by ratification of an international treaty.
 
The Constitutional Court declared the obligations assumed by Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty compatible with the Constitution.
 
Languages:
 
Armenian, French (translation by the Court).