YEREVAN. – The Yerevan court session on the criminal case against second President Robert Kocharyan and former deputy prime minister Armen Gevorgyan—who is now an MP of the opposition “Armenia” Faction in the National Assembly of Armenia—adjourned Tuesday for at least a week.

At the beginning of the hearing, it became apparent that the two defendants were absent from the courtroom.

Kocharyan's attorney, Hayk Alumyan, informed the court that there was a confirmed case of the coronavirus in the Kocharyan family, and the former president had taken a COVID-19 test whose result was expected at 5pm. Also, the lawyer submitted all the required documents to the court.

And Gevorgyan's attorney, Lusine Sahakyan, read her client's petition to the court. In the petition, Gevorgyan had informed that, as the presiding judge had advised him in the previous court hearing, he was now remotely attending the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Due to the absence of the two defendants, presiding Judge Anna Danibekyan adjourned today’s court hearing until February 1. But this date can also be push back—depending on the result of Robert Kocharyan's Covid test.