YEREVAN. – At Tuesday’s court trial of the criminal case against Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan, former CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, and former Deputy PM Armen Gevorgyan, the latter reminded presiding Judge Anna Danibekyan of her obligations.
"A strange discussion is going on. I want to note that I am still a citizen of the Republic of Armenia; so are you. Under the Constitution, I have rights and obligations; so do you. The difference is that it is your obligation is to protect my rights. Please do not forget about that," Gevorgyan stated.
To note, the court has refused to discontinue—based on the decision of the Constitutional Court—the criminal prosecution against the aforesaid defendants.
As reported earlier, this is the first court session after the Constitutional Court declared Article 300.1 (overthrow of the constitutional order) of the Criminal Code in conflict with Articles 78 (principle of proportionality) and 79 (principle of certainty) of the Constitution, and therefore invalidated it on March 26. It is not clear what kind of “overthrow” is in question, given that the aforesaid article was adopted under one constitution, and they had tried to amend it under another constitution.
The defendants are charged under this very article of the Criminal Code.
In fact, the court shall terminate these defendants’ criminal prosecution under the said article, as well as of others who are charged with similar charges in this criminal case.
