YEREVAN. – The legal defense team has not been provided yet the Criminal Court of Appeal decision with respect to remanding Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan in custody, the defense team has informed.

With the decision of December 7, the appellate court had sustained the respective decision by the first instance court—and which was made on July 27.

A copy of the aforesaid decision by the Criminal Court of Appeal has not yet been provided to the second President’s defense team, and on the grounds that it is not prepared yet. 

As per Kocharyan’s attorneys, however, this aims to obstruct them from filing a petition with the European Court of Human Rights as soon as possible.

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. Kocharyan has been remanded in custody along the lines of this criminal case.

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 then recent presidential election. 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.