YEREVAN. – The presiding judge at the capital city Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction on Wednesday left for the consultation room to reach a verdict on the custody case of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan.
The court decision will be issued Friday at 5:30pm Armenia time.
The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction will rule on the motion by the legal defense team of Kocharyan, and to the effect that their client be released from custody on bail, as well as on the petition by the Special Investigation Service, and with a request to extend Kocharyan’s confinement for another two months.
With its ruling on December 7, 2018 the Criminal Court of Appeal had upheld the first instance court’s July 27 decision on remanding Robert Kocharyan in custody. On the same day—December 7, Kocharyan had 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.
