YEREVAN. – Selection of the judge at the Criminal Court of Appeal, the whole process of the trial, and the judge’s decision has taken place with numerous gross violations of the law.

Hayk Alumyan, a member of the attorney team of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan, stated the above-said at a press conference on Saturday, as he spoke about the remanding of Kocharyan in custody, yet again.

“The judge [presiding over the court trial] didn’t respond to several arguments which we [the defense] have submitted,” Alumyan said. “In his decision, the judge simply preferred not to reflect on those arguments.”

In the attorney’s words, regarding the arguments which the court did reflect on, it limited itself to truth-like sentences which, however, had no meaning. 

“The trial was a shameful trial,” he added. “The decision was made with shameful violations.”

With its ruling on December 7, the Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the first instance court’s July 27 decision on remanding Robert Kocharyan in custody. On the same day—December 7, Kocharyan handed himself over to a Yerevan penitentiary where he was arrested.   

Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan—along with several other former officials—has been charged within the framework of the criminal case into the tragic events that transpired in capital city Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008—and under Article 300.1 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code; that is, breaching Armenia’s constitutional order, in conspiracy with others.

On March 1 and 2, 2008 the then authorities of Armenia used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the presidential election on February 19, 2008. Eight demonstrators as well as two servicemen of the internal troops were killed in the clashes. But no one had been brought to account for these deaths, to this day.