Constitutional Court’s ruling on restriction of religious affiliation during police service

The Constitutional Court of Armenia, at a hearing on February 18, 2020, published an application by the Administrative Court, which was examined by a written procedure, regarding the issue of compliance with the Constitution of the RA Law on Police Service. The aforementioned legal regulation prohibits a police officer from being a member of a religious organization.
Hrayr Tovmasyan, the President of the Constitutional Court, announced the decision on the written examination of 8 of the 9 Constitutional Court members.

The decision reads: “Pursuant to the first Paragraph of Article 168 of the Constitution, Article 160 4 and Articles 22 and 71 of the Constitutional Law of the Constitutional Court, having examined the case in writing and proceeding from the results of its examination in open court, guided by Article 1, Article 160 4, Article 170 and Articles 63, 64 and 71 of the Constitutional Court, The Constitutional Court ruled that Paragraph 7 (1) of Article 39 of the RA Law on Police Service imposing an absolute prohibition on membership in any religious organization for a police officer not preconditioned by specific manifestations of conduct was to be recognized contradictory to Articles 41 and 45 of the Constitution and therefore invalid.”

Prehistory

A number of laws in Armenia contain articles on religious discrimination that also become a legal basis for discrimination in practice. There have been times when people have been fired on the grounds of belonging to this or that religious organization.

In a number of laws that apply to law enforcement and the armed forces, service is restricted to persons who are members of a religious organization. Of course, this does not apply to the members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, although there is nothing in the laws that states this exception.

Those laws are:

Law on Military Service, General Provisions, Article 1 (3,3),
RA Law on Police Service, Article 39, Chapter 7
RA Law on Service in the National Security Service, Chapter 7, Clause 8
RA Law on the Rescue Service of Armenia, Chapter 7, Article 39, Clause E
RA Law on Penitentiary Service, Chapter 9, Article 32, Clause 7
RA Law on Judicial Acts Compulsory Enforcement Agency, Chapter 3, Article 9, Clause 1 and Article 30, Clause 7.

According to these laws, restrictions on being a member of a religious organization apply for service in those organizations, which is, of course, an unlawful requirement.
The civil society of Armenia, in particular the long-standing “Collaboration for Democracy Center” NGO, has long appealed to the Ministry of Defense, the Human Rights Defender and the Ministry of Justice. This problem has been included in numerous reports prepared by the Center.

This ruling by the Constitutional Court was an important step in resolving the issue and should serve as a precedent for neutralizing other religiously restricted rights in the other laws mentioned above.