YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian lawyer attempted to challenge in court the coronavirus protocols in schools requiring children to wear face masks, maneuvering into technicalities of the lawful power of the protocols and whether or not the guidelines constitute a “legal act”. 

A Yerevan court indeed found that the school guidelines are not technically considered a “normative legal act”, but at the same time returned the lawyer’s application citing errors.

After this, lawyer Gegham Simonyan issued a statement on his social media account claiming that the court’s stipulation that the school guidelines are not normative legal acts is sufficient in order for children not to wear masks in schools. His statement was widely distributed and could potentially cause confusion.

Shortly afterwards the Healthcare Ministry issued a statement stressing that even if the guidelines aren’t technically considered “normative legal acts”, there is an order from a higher authority in place regarding mandatory face masks – the health minister’s order on mandatory face masks in all enclosed facilities, which is in force.

“The author, as a lawyer and attorney, should’ve been aware that the mentioned guideline was never a normative legal act, and disputing it in terms of contradicting the Law on Normative Legal Acts is senseless”, the health ministry said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan