The content of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party’s statement on the arrest of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan is incomprehensible to me.

Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan stated the aforementioned at Tuesday’s Facebook press conference by RFE/RL Armenian Service.

“Forming part of the government, the ARF should know precisely what kind of relationships there are between the executive and judicial powers [of Armenia], whether or not there is pressure on the judicial power,” he noted.

Avinyan recalled that they had specified—from their very first day—that the executive power will exert no pressure on the judicial power in the country.

The ARF recently issued a statement noting that bringing charges against Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan and other representatives of the former authorities—and on breaching the country’s constitutional order—was extremely worrisome, and it could be interpreted as political persecution.

As reported earlier, a charge has been brought against second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, former Defense Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan, and incumbent Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General and Armenia’s former Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Khachaturov, 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.

Since Harutyunyan is not in Armenia, a search for him was declared. And on July 27, Khachaturov was released on bail, whereas Kocharyan was remanded in custody for two months by a court decision.

On the evening of July 26, ex-President Robert Kocharyan had given an interview, during which he had said the criminal case against him was trumped-up and a political vendetta.

On March 1 and 2, 2008, the then authorities used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the recent presidential election. 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.