12:15, 10 December 2019

Judge in the case of ex-President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan self-disqualifies

Robert Kocharyan. Photo by Tigran Petrosyan for the "Caucasian Knot"

The judge agreed with the motion of the prosecutor, who has doubted his impartiality, and refused to consider the complaint lodged by Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, against the extension of his arrest.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 6, the prosecutor demanded to disqualify Judge Mkhitar Papoyan, who is considering the appeal against Kocharyan's arrest. The defence has objected stating that the prosecutor backed up his motion only with unverified information from the social network.

The arguments voiced out by the prosecutor at the last court session cannot be the grounds for the judge's self-disqualification, the advocate, Aram Orbelyan, insists.

Earlier, Kocharyan's defence had asked the court to release him on bail, but on November 7, a decision was made to leave him under arrest. Kocharyan's supporters held a protest action outside the courthouse.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 9, 2019 at 04:37 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Armine Martirosyan

Source: CK correspondent