YEREVAN. – The legal defense team of Robert Kocharyan, the second President of Armenia, will file a motion that Judge Anna Danibekyan recuse herself.
The respective statement says that the next hearing on the criminal case involving Kocharyan and several other former senior officials—and presided over by Judge Danibekyan—will take place on October 7, at the Shengavit District seat of the capital city Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, during which Kocharyan’s attorneys are going to file a motion that Judge Anna Danibekyan recuse herself from hearing this case.
“At the previous court hearing, [Kocharyan’s legal] defender Hayk Alumyan had announced the intention to file a motion for the recusal [of Judge Danibekyan], contending the judge’s demeanor towards R. Kocharyan,” the statement also reads.
The examination of the criminal case involving second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and some other former senior officials accused of overthrowing the constitutional order along the lines of the March 1, 2008 case is being heard at the Shengavit seat of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, and is presided over by Judge Anna Danibekyan.
Second President Robert Kocharyan, former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and former CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, and former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Secretary of the National Security Council Armen Gevorgyan are defendants in this case.
Solely Robert Kocharyan is in custody along the lines of this case. The second president has been remanded in custody three times within one year; the last one was on June 25, by the decision of Judge Armen Danielyan of the Criminal Court of Appeal.
A signature bond to not leave Armenia has been selected as a pretrial measure for Seyran Ohanyan and Armen Gevorgyan, whereas bail—for Yuri Khachaturov.
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.
