Afət Ziyadqızı
Armenia’s Constitutional Court has refused to accept an appeal by the opposition parliamentary factions Armenia and Strong Armenia seeking a review of whether provisions in the government programme concerning the Armenian Apostolic Church comply with the Constitution.
The Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the opposition factions sought to challenge the government programme approved by a decision of the National Assembly dated Aug. 25, 2026, numbered AJO-3-N.
They argued that the document envisages state interference in the church’s internal affairs, which they said violates the country’s Constitution, Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Venice Commission’s principle of separation between church and state.
The Constitutional Court issued a procedural decision declining to hear the appeal. Its reasoning said the political appropriateness of the government programme does not fall within the scope of constitutional justice and instead comes under the parliament’s political responsibility.
The decision stressed that the court adheres to the principle of judicial self-restraint and should not intervene in the actions of state authorities on issues involving political disagreements. It also said the applicants had not provided the necessary legal grounds to establish the substance of a constitutional violation, adding that abstract constitutional review should not be used as a tool for political criticism.
