Robert Kocharyan to remain in custody

The Yerevan Court of Appeals ruled to extend the custody of former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, who is charged with overthrowing the constitutional order in 2008, prosecutor Petros Petrosyan said.

The Court of Appeals denied the appeal by Kocharyan's attorneys and upheld the ruling of the first-instance court on Kocharyan’s arrest, the prosecutor said.

Kocharyan is charged with toppling constitutional order in collusion with other persons in 2008 March. He was detained on July 26, 2018 for two months in pre-trial detention pending investigation. However, he was released from custody after the Court of Appeals ruled that he could not be prosecuted for the 2008 March 1 post-election violence. That ruling was denounced by the Special Investigative Service, which described it as illegal, saying that the Court of Appeals "overstepped the bounds of its authority." In December, he was arrested again. On March 15, Kocharyan's custody was extended for another 2 months.

Earlier, Former head of the Central Bank of Armenia Bagrat Asatryan, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that bringing Robert Kocharian to justice for the March 2008 crimes in the new conditions is only a matter of time. "It is important that 10 years after the March 2008 tragic events, our authorities finally took up the matter. I was an active participant in those protests and I know that back then all the means were used against people who disagree with the results of the presidential election, in which Serzh Sargsyan became the head of state, starting from crimes to military," he said .

The expert noted that today there are no political forces left in Armenia ready to support Robert Kocharyan, including his former comrades. “Robert Kocharyan has never been a public politician, he was a manager, that’s why he set the goal to destroy Armenia's internal policy at one time - so that no one would interfere with his rule. 15 years ago, he actually privatized the Armenian parties and distributed them to the oligarchs. As a result of his efforts, the old internal political field of Armenia was destroyed, but now it turned out that Kocharyan does not have any comrades and supporters in politics. Having lost power, he became simply not interesting for the domestic political situation," Bagrat Asatryan stressed.