The institution of immunity is fully applicable to the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, his attorney Aram Orbelyan announced during Wednesday’s press conference.

Responding to a question about the immunity of the former president, the lawyer noted that the incumbent president of Armenia has immunity, while the retired president is endowed with immunity for actions arising from his status.

“I insist that the immunity of the [former] president [i.e. Kocharyan] in this case is fully applicable, since the matter concerns exclusively the ratification of government decisions,” the attorney said, and added that the late Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan was also charged, while the members of the government who voted were not charged.

According to the lawyer, Kocharyan’s involvement in this case was simply to ratify the government’s decisions, which was his duty under the Armenian constitution, and he had no choice.

Orbelyan said the charge against Kocharyan is vague and announced that he intends to discuss amendments to the Criminal Code of Armenia with the MPs in order to avoid speculative wording in it.

“If there is speculative wording, the case is subject to dismissal. It must be clearly noted who did what. If it is not known, ‘unknown person’ is written, and not vague and speculative words,” he said.

Also, the attorney reminded that all prosecutors and investigators who, for various reasons, know that they are committing illegal actions must realize that they are consciously committing a crime.