Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

In July 2021, HCAV advocate Tiruhi Vardanyan undertook to protect violated labor rights of Vayots Dzor Deputy Governor Nane Asatryan and applied to the RA Administrative Court. The grounds for dismissing Nane Asatryan were defined in part 9 of Article 9 of the RA Law on Public Service according to the decision of the RA Prime Minister and Vayots Dzor Governor Ararat Grigoryan’s recommendation addressed to the RA Prime Minister.  The Article defines the procedure for the appointment to and removal from a public administrative office, in this case, deputy governor’s office. According to the position of Vayots Dzor regional administration, the RA Law on Public Service does not require any grounds other than the invoked legal norm.

The judicial act issued in the frame of the case established the position that a public servant, as an employee, also falls within the scope of protection under Article 24 of the Revised European Social Charter, and every time a person holding state administrative office is dismissed, the individual legal act must have  factual and legal grounds. At the same time, the Administrative Court of Appeal concluded that “the Code is the main normative legal act regulating labor relations of persons holding the state administrative position of deputy governor, unless otherwise prescribed by the RA Law on Public Service. This means that if any labor rights area is not regulated by the RA Law on Public Service, and it does not specify any restriction on applying the Code, then the Code norms apply to that area”.