10 August 2018, 22:01
Court postpones decision on Kocharyan's complaint about arrest
The Court of Appeal has considered the complaint of the defence of Robert Kocharyan, the second Armenian President, about his arrest, and has postponed the decision on it until August 13. The members of the Council of Elders of Yerevan from the "Apricot Country" Party have stopped their action against Kocharyan, saying that they will wait for the court's decision.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Kocharyan was accused of overthrowing the constitutional order in connection with the dispersal of protests in Yerevan on March 1-2, 2008. On August 7, 2018, more than 60 MPs of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh asked to release Kocharyan, but the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia rejected the request. Today, during the court session, members of the "Apricot Country" held a protest in the courthouse, stating that "Kocharyan's place is in prison."
In 2008, in skirmishes with the police in Yerevan, 10 people perished and over 250 others were injured. Then, Kocharyan introduced a 20-day state of emergency, banning demonstrations and publishing messages from unofficial sources in mass media.
According to his advocate, Kocharyan has no complaints about his custody conditions at the SIZO. However, he is not allowed to be visited by relatives and make phone calls.
Earlier, Aik Alumyan, a Kocharyan's advocate, stated that after he undertook to defend Kocharyan, he began receiving threats in social networks. In his opinion, this is an attempt to exert indirect pressure on the court.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’on August 10, 2018 at 05:38 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Armine Martirosyan Source: CK correspondent
