Aram Orbelyan, the lawyer of the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, has called Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s idea to deprive opponents of their “last shoe” sick and illegal.

At Wednesday’s press conference, Orbelyan reminded that the constitutional duty of the head of the Armenian government is to provide citizens with shoes, clothing, food, etc., and not to threaten to deprive them of all of that.

Orbelyan linked the mention of the shoes to the well-known fact that a collection of more than 1,000 pairs of designer shoes were found in the house of Imelda Marcos, the wife of former president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos.

“Is this the problem? Or are they trying to build a bridge with the famous shoes?” the lawyer asked, adding that the claim about leaving without shoes is in itself unsound.

The lawyer once again emphasized the obvious illegality of the charges brought against Kocharyan, and noted that there are two types of illegal actions in all this: in some cases there is the right to seal the object—which belongs to Robert Kocharyan’s son, Sedrak, in other cases there is no such right.

“But the most important thing is that Robert Kocharyan has nothing to do with them, he has never been engaged in entrepreneurship. He was engaged in politics, was the president of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] and Armenia, then worked for a long time as a member of the board of directors of a large company, and then again engaged in politics. He was not engaged in business either directly or indirectly. His children are, yes, engaged [in it]. He has nothing to do with entrepreneurship,” the attorney said.

Orbelyan recalled that the charge against Robert Kocharyan boils down to the fact that he had signed government decisions, which he was obligated to do under the Armenian constitution. “As if for some purpose. There is nothing else,” the lawyer added.

As for Sedrak Kocharyan, who has never held public office, but has been engaged in entrepreneurial activity since the age of 18-19, he has indeed achieved success in business, but no more than hundreds or thousands of other domestic businessmen.

“Instead of discussing the legality of legal processes, family ties are being discussed, which indicates the lack of grounds. Instead, an attempt is being made to create an impression and influence emotions,” Orbelyan noted, adding that significant damage is being caused to the sealed companies, which, as compensation for the damage caused, Armenia’s taxpayers will have to pay.

“It’s not enough that we pay bonuses to officials, and now we will have to do this,” Orbelyan noted.