Armenian former President Robert Kocharyan said in an interview with three Armenian TV channels that if it were not for criminal prosecution, he would have to return to politics

“After the end of my presidency, I sincerely decided to leave. Of course, I did not expect such developments. I considered it my duty to respond to the questions with which I disagreed and which had a wide public voice, I gave regular, infrequent interviews on those issues, I was not interested in the rest, I considered that I had fulfilled my mission...We tried to refute the defamatory information via the office, but then realized that with internet we either have to deal with this every day, or it is better not to do it at all, because it required too much time and resources. I considered that I had a much more interesting job to do, a desire to lead a more interesting life, than to he imprisoned and justify myself, to defend myself,” he said.

“The issue is not political persecution, the issue is that a policy is being pursued in the country that endangers the existence of Armenia and Artsakh in general, in this case, if there was no criminal prosecution, it is one thing, I should have returned to politics.”