Alexander Sirunyan Withdraws His Candidacy for SCJ Membership
Alexander Sirunyan has decided to withdraw his candidacy for the position of a member of the Supreme Council of Justice (SCJ). He announced that, following discussions, he voluntarily decided to remove his candidacy.
On November 5, 2024, during a meeting of the Civil Contract (CC) board, the decision was made to consider Sirunyan’s candidacy for SCJ membership. On November 27, the CC nominated Sirunyan for the position. Previously, in October, he had been one of the candidates for the Minister of Justice role, but he did not receive any votes during the board meeting.
Earlier, Alexander Sirunyan faced criticism for making posts on Facebook deemed unethical and anti-Artsakh. In one post, he mentioned that newly displaced Artsakh residents were baking and selling zhengyalov hats in various parts of Yerevan and expressed dissatisfaction, stating that they would soon set up shacks in central locations, as they could not live anywhere other than Sayat-Nova Avenue. Sirunyan later deleted this post from his page.
In 2023, Sirunyan was accused of defaming a former Deputy Minister of Defense. On October 9 and November 2, 2019, he made publications and gave an interview accusing the deputy minister of embezzling $220,000, manipulating military equipment procurement tenders, abusing his position, and engaging in illegal activities.
The criminal cases related to these accusations were dismissed after the parties reached a reconciliation agreement. Former Deputy Minister of Defense Makar Ghambaryan had filed a lawsuit with the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, demanding 2,000,000 AMD in damages from Alexander Sirunyan.