The statement by the PACE Monitoring Group goes to show once again that Robert Kocharyan is a political prisoner. This is what Sargis Grigoryan, one of the attorneys of second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, told Armenian News-NEWS.am, touching upon the statement by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the call of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to block the entrances to and exits from all courts of the country.

“Robert Kocharyan is a political prisoner since there are political motives behind his criminal prosecution. This was substantiated by the call and statements that Nikol Pashinyan made yesterday. The PACE Monitoring Group has recorded that there is overt influence on the judiciary in Armenia, and the PACE has recorded a direct relationship between those actions and the decision on the case of Kocharyan. The representatives of the international organization have called on being guided only by law,” he said.

According to the attorney, this statement serves as further evidence to confirm in the ECHR that Kocharyan is a political prisoner.

According to Grigoryan, the actions of blocking the entrances to and exits from courts also violate several provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, including the provisions related to fair trial and the ban on discrimination.

Grigoryanalso informed that he and the other attorneys still haven’t decided whether they will supplement the complaints filed to the ECHR or file a new complaint to the ECHR.