20 May 2019, 10:41
Pashinyan calls on his supporters to block courts after Kocharyan's release
In response to the release from custody of the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called on his supporters to block courthouses. Such actions can lead to the liquidation of the independent judiciary in Armenia, Grant Mikaelyan, a political analyst, has noted.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 18, the court released Robert Kocharyan under the guarantee of the incumbent and a former presidents of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).
Mr Kocharyan is accused within the case of clashes of law enforcers with oppositional protesters on March 1-2, 2008. He is also charged with receiving a bribe of three million US dollars. Kocharyan himself has stated that the decision to disperse the 2008 actions was made because security services had reported that demonstrators were arming themselves.
On May 19, on his Facebook page, the Premier, Nikol Pashinyan, posted a call to block courthouses.
"On May 20, from 8:30 a.m., we block all the entrances and exits to and from all the courthouses without exception. So that no one could exit," Mr Pashinyan wrote.
While commenting earlier on the court's decision to release Kocharyan, Pashinyan stated that "the second and most important phase of the revolution is ripening in the country," the TASS reported on May 19.
On Monday (May 20), an attempt will be made in Armenia to "go beyond the constitution and destroy the independence of the judiciary," said Grant Mikaelyan, an expert of the Caucasus Institute.
"The attempt will be implemented by the executive power [...] But what happens tomorrow goes beyond the legitimate struggle," Mr Mikaelyan wrote on his Facebook on May 19.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 20, 2019 at 00:46 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Tigran Petrosyan Source: CK correspondent
