Gagik Harutyunyan

Gagik Harutyunyan was born in 1948.

In 1970, he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Economics of Yerevan State University (YSU), and in 1973 completed his postgraduate studies at YSU. In 1974, he was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences, and in 1999, the degree of Doctor of Law. In November 1988, following the preliminary defense in Moscow of his doctoral dissertation in economics, the devastating earthquake of December 1988 and the resulting extraordinary workload compelled him to suspend the process of completing the defense.

In 2004, he was awarded the academic title of Professor of Law.

From 1977 to 1978, he undertook an academic research fellowship at the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

From 1972 to 1981, he taught at Yerevan State University and the Yerevan Institute of National Economy.

From 1981 to 1990, he served at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia as a lecturer, instructor in the Socio-Economic Department, and subsequently as Head of that Department.

In 1990, he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Council of Armenia and served as Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council.

In 1991, he was elected Vice President of the Republic of Armenia. From November 1991 to July 1992, he also performed the duties of Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.

From 1996 to 2018, he served as the founding President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.

From March 2018 to May 2019, he served as Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council of the Republic of Armenia.

From 1998 to 2021, he was a member of the Council of Europe’s European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), serving as a member of its Bureau from 2012 to 2018.

He is a founding member of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice and served as President of its Bureau in 2014–2015. The Conference brings together 120 countries.

He is currently Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Analytical Center “Constitutional Culture.”

Since 1972, he has delivered lectures at Yerevan State University, the Russian-Armenian University, the French University in Armenia, the American University of Armenia, the Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Clermont-Ferrand University in France, and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

He is the author of more than 50 monographs and over 200 other scholarly publications in Armenian, Russian, English, French, and German.

He has presented papers at more than 70 international academic conferences.

His doctrinal approaches—particularly those concerning constitutional culture, constitutionalism, constitutional monitoring, overcoming public immune deficiency, and sustainable development—have gained broad international recognition.

The film “The Mystery of Honey Bee Society,” created under his authorship, received approximately 200 million views worldwide in 2023–2024 alone.[1]

[1] The film is available online in Armenian and English under the titles “Մեղվահասարակության առեղծվածը” and “The Mystery of Honey Bee Society.” It has also been broadcast on television channels in China and India.