18 March 2019, 23:24
Court refuses to recognize former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan as victim in wiretapping case
The Armenian Court of Appeal dismissed the claim of Robert Kocharyan, the second President of Armenia, to recognize him as a victim in a criminal case on wiretapping of phone conversations between the heads of the two law enforcement bodies. The defence announced appeals to the cassation instance and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in September 2018, a record of a phone conversation between Arthur Vanetsyan, the director of the National Security Service of Armenia, and Sasun Khachatryan, the chief of the Special Investigating Service, about the arrest of Robert Kocharyan and Yuri Khachaturov in the case on dispersing demonstrators was published on YouTube. In the phone conversation, Arthur Vanetsyan assures Sasun Khachatryan that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan "approved" their arrests and "the judge would issue arrest warrants."
Robert Kocharyan was accused of financial crimes, overthrowing the constitutional order in connection with the dispersal of the protests in Yerevan in March 2008, as well as the bribery on a large scale. On March 15, the court extended his arrest for other two months.
In the complaint, advocate of Robert Kocharyan noted that the published phone conversation confirmed illegal actions an arrest in relation to their client, the "Sputnik-Armenia" reports.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 18, 2019 at 04:20 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Armine Martirosyan Source: CK correspondent
