I’m being accused of fulfilling my direct constitutional duties, said the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan during Monday’s court hearing on an article deemed as unconstitutional.

Noting that he did not want to delve into legal nuances, Kocharyan noted that he would briefly repeat what he had said earlier: the indictment against him, in fact, was created in a political office.

The former president listed a number of “absurdities” in the indictment. He recalled that, as is known from jurisprudence, any crime has a motive, and the aforesaid indictment mentions two: to preserve the desired system of power at any cost, and to transfer power to his close associate, Serzh Sargsyan.

“What does ‘the desired system of power’ mean? Who can explain to me what it means? I don’t understand,” Kocharyan said in particular, adding that it can only be changed through a referendum.

Moreover, the former president said that under the same constitution of Armenia, the president’s sacred duty is to protect the system of state institutions.

“It turns out that I’m being accused of something that is my duty as president; this is absurd,” he added.

Regarding the second part of the charge, “transferring power to his close associate [third President] Serzh Sargsyan at any cost,” Kocharyan noted that this indictment simply does not specify who Serzh Sargsyan is.

“A crime is being committed before our eyes, and I ask [the court] to consider this statement of mine as a report on a crime,” Kocharyan stated, referring to the “absurdity” of the listed accusations.

And what does “transfer power” mean? Kocharyan asked, recalling that under the constitution of Armenia, the new president assumes power not from the previous one, but at a session of parliament. Moreover, the elections are held by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia, and the indictment, in essence, does not question the CEC’s decision based on the election results.

Thus, the outgoing president’s duty is to ensure that power is transferred to the elected person. There were no other duties.

“The elections are legal; that is not in doubt. What is the result? I’m being accused of having fulfilled my duties as president so that power could be transferred to the one who was legally elected president,” Robert Kocharyan said.