Hayk Alumyan, a member of second President Robert Kocharyan’s defense team, strongly condemn the ruling of the Yerevan appellate court to keep the ex-president in custody as ‘politically motivated’.

The Yerevan Criminal Court of Appeals, under presiding judge Mnatsakan Harutyunyan, upheld today the ruling of a lower court to keep Kocharyan in pre-trial custody and rejected his lawyers’ motion to release the ex-president on bail.

“I believe the ruling lacks a legal component. This decision is absolutely politically motivated made in the wake of a political order,” the lawyer said.

He added that Kocharyan will appeal the ruling to the Court of Cassation and will also lodge a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Earlier on January 18, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction granted the motion filed by the Special Investigative Service to extend the ex-president’s pre-trial arrest for two months and denied his lawyers’ petition to release Kocharyan on bail.

The former president’s defense team appealed the ruling to the higher court.

Kocharyan has been placed in custody since December 7, 2018, pending trial. He is charged with overthrowing Armenia’s constitutional order during the March 1-2, 2008 post-election events in Yerevan, but the ex-president strongly denies any wrongdoing.