Charge against Robert Kocahryan based on involvement of army
02.08.2018,
12:25
Sasun Khachatryan, the head of the Armenian Special Investigation Service, told journalists on Thursday that the charge against former Armenian president Robert Kocahryan is based on involvement of troops in the March 1, 2008 events.
YEREVAN, August 2. /ARKA/. Sasun Khachatryan, the head of the Armenian Special Investigation Service, told journalists on Thursday that the charge against former Armenian president Robert Kocahryan is based on involvement of troops in the March 1, 2008 events.
“Involvement of the army in political processes is prohibited either in former or in present version of the Constitution,” he said. “Involvement is permitted only after declaration of the state of war, but that has not been done, as known.”
Khachatryan also called ridiculous the statement of Kocharyan’s lawyers in which they insist that the case is political persecution.
“Our decision on the charge is so clear and well-justified that the manipulations to which Kocharyan’s lawyers have resorted are not understandable and ridiculous to me,” he said.
A Yerevan district court late on July 27 ruled that the Special Investigative Service (SIS) could hold Kocharyan for two months in pre-trial detention pending investigation.
The case dates back to late February and early March 2008 following the disputed presidential election, when then prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was declared the winner, angering the opposition, led by the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and setting off 10 days of nonstop protests that led to a crackdown on March 1, in which 10 people were killed and more than 200 injured.
Kocharyan is now charged with toppling constitutional order in collusion with other persons, and the agency has applied to court for a detention warrant.
The same charge was brought against Yuri Khachaturov, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, who had been the chief of the Yerevan garrison at the time of the bloody events of 2008.
However, Khachaturov was released on bail, for AMD 5 million.
Also former defense minister Mikael Harutyunyan is wanted by the law-enforcement authorities as a defendant in the case.
He is accused of illegally using the Armenian armed forces against opposition supporters who demonstrated in Yerevan in the wake of the disputed presidential election held in February 2008. -0-
“Involvement of the army in political processes is prohibited either in former or in present version of the Constitution,” he said. “Involvement is permitted only after declaration of the state of war, but that has not been done, as known.”
Khachatryan also called ridiculous the statement of Kocharyan’s lawyers in which they insist that the case is political persecution.
“Our decision on the charge is so clear and well-justified that the manipulations to which Kocharyan’s lawyers have resorted are not understandable and ridiculous to me,” he said.
A Yerevan district court late on July 27 ruled that the Special Investigative Service (SIS) could hold Kocharyan for two months in pre-trial detention pending investigation.
The case dates back to late February and early March 2008 following the disputed presidential election, when then prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was declared the winner, angering the opposition, led by the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and setting off 10 days of nonstop protests that led to a crackdown on March 1, in which 10 people were killed and more than 200 injured.
Kocharyan is now charged with toppling constitutional order in collusion with other persons, and the agency has applied to court for a detention warrant.
The same charge was brought against Yuri Khachaturov, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, who had been the chief of the Yerevan garrison at the time of the bloody events of 2008.
However, Khachaturov was released on bail, for AMD 5 million.
Also former defense minister Mikael Harutyunyan is wanted by the law-enforcement authorities as a defendant in the case.
He is accused of illegally using the Armenian armed forces against opposition supporters who demonstrated in Yerevan in the wake of the disputed presidential election held in February 2008. -0-
