Eviralnews,, the Supreme Court of Appeal of Armenia has ordered the retrial of Robert Kocharian, the former president of this country.
This court rejected the charges against Kocharian three years ago.
In addition to Kocharian, his former chief of staff, Armen Georkian, and two other retired generals were charged in connection with the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.
After that, in April 2021, the regional court rejected the charge of “attempting to subvert the constitutional structure” against them.
The reason for this was the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, which declared that the accusation against Kocharian and others based on this article of the criminal law is against the Constitution of Armenia.
The prosecutors protested against the decision to stop the investigation of this case. They believed that the defendants should be charged with abuse of authority due to the events of March 2008.
However, the Court of Appeal upheld the stay of proceedings and prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also referred to the Constitutional Court in March of this year.
The Constitutional Court ruled in July that Armenia's Criminal Procedure Code allows prosecutors to charge the same defendants with other charges.
Based on this ruling, the Supreme Court ordered the lower court to start a new trial.
Earlier, Hayek Alumian, one of Kocharian's lawyers, said that the Constitutional Court has made it possible to resume the political prosecution of the former president.
Important decision of the Constitutional Court
Kocharian, the current leader of the largest opposition faction in Armenia called Hayistan, was previously accused of accepting bribes. The former president categorically denied this accusation. However, the 70-year-old politician was being tried along with Georkian on bribery charges. Previously, in April 2021, Judge Anna Danibekian dismissed the coup charge against them.
The proceedings were stopped in December 2023 without a verdict. The judge announced that the legal period for prosecuting Kocharian has expired. The ruling states that even if Kocharian is found guilty for the events of 2008, he cannot be sentenced to prison due to the passage of time.
Thus, one week after the disqualification of Judge Danibekian, the Constitutional Court opened the way for Kocharian's retrial.
A staunch critic of the current Armenian government, Kocharian was first arrested in 2018, immediately after the “Velvet Revolution”. He was released on bail in June 2020.
Current Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was one of the main opposition figures in the 2008 protests that ended in bloody violence. He was convicted of overthrowing the government and spent two years of his life in prison.
March 1, 2008 event
On April 26, 2018, the Special Investigation Service of Armenia charged Kocharian with subverting constitutional order.
Robert Kocharian was accused of the bloody events of March 1, 2008.
The former president of Armenia declared this accusation “false and politically motivated”.
Immediately after the 2008 presidential election in Armenia, starting on February 19, thousands of people protested the election results.
The protesters, mainly supporters of former president Levon Ter-Petrossian, a presidential candidate, claimed that Serzh Sargsyan, another politician from the Karabakh clan, had won by fraud.
According to critics, in this election, power was transferred from one representative of the Karabakh tribe to another.
Finally, during the demonstrations that lasted for days, on March 1st, police and security forces attacked the protesters who spent the night in the tents set up in Azadi Square of Yerevan with batons and electric shocks.
It was also suggested that a group of the separatist army of Karabakh be brought to Yerevan to suppress the protest.
During these clashes, 8 demonstrators and one soldier were killed. It is reported that more than 200 demonstrators were injured. A large number of people had disappeared.
After this incident, Levon Ter-Petrosyan was effectively placed under house arrest. Robert Kocharian, who was still sitting in the presidential chair, declared a state of emergency.
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