YEREVAN, August 10. /ARKA/. During a visit today to Tavush province Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was asked to comment on a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the latest developments in Armenia.
On July 31 Lavrov said that Moscow was ‘concerned’ over the latest developments in Armenia targeting former officials. Lavrov's remarks came after former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan was charged with overthrowing the constitutional order.
"The events of the last few days contradict the recent declarations of the new Armenian leadership that it was not planning to pursue its predecessors on political grounds," Lavrov said. "Moscow, as an ally of Yerevan, has always had an interest in the stability of the Armenian state, and therefore what is happening there must be of concern to us," he said. Lavrov said also his ministry had raised its concerns with the Armenian leadership and was hoping for a "constructive" response.
Speaking to reporters in Tavush today Pashinyan said: "Now we have another situation, and we all need to adapt to this situation, including our Russian partners, so everything is fine."
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—-