ArmInfo. The trial on the case of choosing a measure of restraint against second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan in the Court of Appeal took place within the framework of the law, in contrast to the process that took place in a court of general jurisdiction.
This was announced today at a press conference by Kocharyan's lawyer Hayk Alumyan. According to him, the judge was also elected within the law. "Initially, he perceived our arguments, but, unfortunately, the verdict was later adopted with a gross violation of the legislation of the country," said Alumyan. As a justification of his words, he cited the argument that the current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who was passing in the same case and another 6 people were once accused under the same article that now Robert Kocharyan (the overthrow of the constitutional order). However after the revision of the relevant article of the Constitution in 2009 (300.1), which tightened the punishment for this crime, these seven were released. "Since criminal law prohibits toughening of punishment for a person, if there was no such article at the time he committed a crime. We emphasize that, according to the same logic, the prosecution against Kocharyan should also be discontinued, since in 2008, Article 300.1 of the Constitution did not work. However, the prosecutor tells us that when the Pashinyan case was decided at the time, the accusatory side had its position, we now have our own, and we disagree with the above arguments. That is to say, there is a biased interpretation of the laws and Constitution ", Alumyan outraged. He also considered it absurd the court's motivation to arrest Kocharyan considering that the latter would obstruct the investigation if released. "Kocharyan is constantly monitored by the National Security Service officers, how he may interfere with the investigation," said Alumyan.
Alumyan considered the version that Kocharyan could hide from the investigation if released as absurd. "He previously had many opportunities for this, however Kocharyan voluntarily returned to his homeland," he stressed.
According to Hayk Alumyan, in the case against Robert Kocharyan, the accusation is based on the fact that the second president, before the March 1 events during a speech to Yerevan State University students, said: There are only two options for the authorities: to wait for the rallies to stop by themselves and the second to use force option to stop the rallies. "This is the basis of the accusation, but the question arises, what is his fault here, is there a third option that Robert Kocharyan didn't mention," said Alumyan, stressing that even the investigative body does not admit that Kocharyan issued a decree on the use of violence on March 1, 2008. "There is no such provision in his accusation," the lawyer said, adding that Kocharyan has not yet given testimonies and does not intend to do so, because the charge is not clear to him. The lawyer also said that Kocharyan was allowed meetings, he continues to play sports in prison.