25 June 2019, 22:06
Court rules to re-arrest Robert Kocharyan
The Armenian Court of Appeal (CoA) has satisfied the complaint of the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) and cancelled the decision to release the former President, Robert Kocharyan, from custody.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today Kocharyan's advocates have accused the court of bias and decided to boycott the announcement of the ruling on the GPO's appeal complaint.
On May 18, 2019, the court released Kocharyan under the guarantee of the incumbent and a former presidents of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). This caused discontent of the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan. On May 23, the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia appealed against the release of the former president.
Today, Judge Armen Danielyan has ruled to place Robert Kocharyan back into custody. According to the ruling, the bail paid for Kocharyan will be returned to the guarantors. The court has also cancelled the decision to appeal to the Constitutional Court, and returned the case for a new investigation, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.
The defence may appeal against the ruling at the cassation instance within 15 days after receiving the judgement, says the ruling.
Those present at the trial welcomed the ruling with applause and shouts "Bravo!" Robert Kocharyan himself and his advocates were not present at the announcement of the ruling; and Kocharyan's supporters did not gather at the courthouse.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 25, 2019 at 04:58 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Tigran Petrosyan Source: CK correspondent
