YEREVAN. – Given a number of circumstances, second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan must be released from custody immediately. Kocharyan's lawyer Aram Vardevanyan stated this at Wednesday’s press conference.

The lawyer said that he had applied to the head of the Supreme Judicial Council and to the Human Rights Defender. "I received a response from the Ombudsman, according to which the issue presented—the absence of the judge—is a violation of human rights," said the lawyer. "In other words, the Human Rights Defender agrees that the situation is problematic in terms of human rights protection." He added that the court is operative when it comes to arrest, but it does not hurry when it comes to reviewing the precautionary measure.

The lawyer stressed that the European side—represented by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture,  and Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights—has called for alternative measures to be taken against those persons who are in the risk group for the novel coronavirus. "Mijatovic clearly stated that the [respective] review should be carried out without discrimination," he added. "These criteria directly apply to Robert Kocharyan. If the [Armenian] authorities are guided by double standards, it will be a gross violation of the law.”

Vardevanyan added that the attempts to contact the judge's office had failed.