A while ago, Hayk Alumyan, Aram Orbelyan, Hovhannes Khudoyan and Aram Orbelyan, attorneys of second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, filed a motion for recusal to Judge Davit Grigoryan, who is the judge presiding over the Kocharyan case.

According to attorney Hayk Alumyan, one of the grounds for filing a motion for recusal to the judge is that Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, who is acting as a party in this case, entered the courtroom through the official entrance designated for the judge. According to Alumyan, this can cast doubt that the judge hasn’t followed the principle of equality of the parties of the procedure.

Alumyan said the second ground is that the judge couldn’t have become familiar with the 80-volume materials of the criminal case and rendered a decision on the preventive measure for Kocharyan in a short period of time.

“In response to our question, the judge didn’t deny that he apparently wasn’t familiar with all the case materials. What we also don’t know is which materials the judge will take into consideration when solving the issue of Kocharyan’s preventive measure,” Alumyan said, declaring that, in these conditions, he and the other attorneys don’t have the opportunity to defend Kocharyan effectively.

According to him, the third ground is the disciplinary proceedings instituted by the Supreme Judicial Council against Davit Grigoryan.

In the past, Judge Davit Grigoryan had refused to examine the preventive measure against Kocharyan, explaining that he was not on duty on the particular day, and on this ground, the Supreme Judicial Council instituted disciplinary liabilities against him. According to Alumyan, the existence of such proceedings may be used as a leverage against Davit Grigoryan to restrict his independence in this case.