YEREVAN. – Robert Kocharyan should not be in custody; and the motion to release him on bail is an interim measure, since it is not known when the Court of Cassation will address the matter of his preventive measure.
Hayk Alumyan, an attorney of Armenia’s second President, on Wednesday told the aforementioned to reporters at the capital city Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction.
In addition to the motion for bail, Kocharyan’s legal defense team on Tuesday filed a petition with the Constitutional Court (CC), and in connection with the law regulations pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Code.
Alumyan explained that the Court of Cassation should not have considered the Prosecutor General’s Office appeal with respect to the preventive measure for Kocharyan.
As per the attorney, one of the grounds for the cassation court to consider an appeal should be the case when there is a problem with the uniform application of the law.
“It’s about Robert Kocharyan’s [presidential] immunity matter,” Alumyan added. “The second grounds by which the cassation [court] could have considered the appeal is that if there is a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“In this case, it’s human rights, on the one hand, and the state’s interest, on the other hand.”
In Hayk Alumyan’s words, if the CC rules in favor of their petition, this will directly reflect on Robert Kocharyan and on the Criminal Court of Appeal decision with respect to remanding him in custody.
Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan is in custody since December 7, 2018.
With its ruling on December 7, 2018 the Criminal Court of Appeal of Armenia 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.
