Monday, Prosecutors Allowed To Investigate Kocharian Trial Judge • Karlen Aslanian Armenia -- District court judge Davit Grigorian leaves the courtroom after ordering former President Robert Kocharian's release from prison, May 18, 2019. Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has allowed the prosecution of a judge who presided over the trial of former President Robert Kocharian and released him on bail in May, it emerged over the weekend. By upholding the relevant petition from the Prosecutor-General’s Office in relation to Davit Grigorian, the oversight body also suspended the powers of the judge pending the investigation. SJC member Hayk Hovannisian told RFE/RL Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) that prosecutors had requested permission for criminal proceedings on three counts, but were allowed to investigate only two. The SJC did not disclose details of the case. No formal proceedings have been launched yet and the judge is not in the status of either a suspect or an accused person, prosecutors said. Grigorian is currently on vacation. Earlier, the Prosecutor-General’s Office insisted that actions against the judge were not related to the trial of Kocharian. In a statement explaining a recent search in Grigorian’s office conducted by the Special Investigation Service it said that investigators were looking for evidence of official forgery related to “circumstances of a different case that was reported by a citizen still in February.” On May 18, district court judge Grigorian controversially ordered Kocharian released from prison pending the outcome of the trial. He also decided to suspend the trial, questioning the legality of coup charges brought against the ex-president and referring the case to the Constitutional Court. Prosecutors appealed against both decisions strongly condemned by political allies and supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Armenia’s Court of Appeals overturned them on June 25, which led to the re-arrest of Kocharian. Earlier, Grigorian “voiced suspicions” that the search conducted in his office was connected to the high-profile case against Kocharian. His lawyer Gevork Melikian also insisted that the actions of the investigation body have contained illegalities. In particular, according to the lawyer, the judge should have been informed about the planned search of his office. Supporters of Kocharian and other critics of the current government also claim that actions of the law-enforcement agencies put pressure on the judiciary and undermine its independence. Armenian Soldier Killed Near Border With Azerbaijan An Armenian soldier stands guard on the border with Azerbaijan (file photo) An Armenian soldier has been killed near the border with Azerbaijan, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Sunday. According to Artsrun Hovannisian, Arman Bulghadarian, a 24-year-old soldier serving in the Armenian armed forces under a contract, was hit on Sunday by a bullet released from the Azerbaijani side at the northeastern section of the highly militarized border. No further details of the incident have been provided. Earlier, on Saturday, the Armenian military reported another incident at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in which an Armenian contract soldier was wounded. In a statement released then Armenia’s Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijan of seeking to escalate the border situation. “Another provocative action by the Azerbaijani side once again proves that the enemy continues to brazenly violate the ceasefire regime and consistently escalate the situation on the border. It is Azerbaijan that bears full responsibility for the escalation of the situation,” it said. Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated region that has been de-facto independent from Baku after a three-year war in the early 1990s, in which an estimated 30,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced. Despite a 1994 ceasefire, loss of life has continued in the conflict zone in recurrent border skirmishes and sporadic fighting. An internationally mediated peace process spearheaded by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group has so far failed to produce a lasting settlement of the conflict. Armenia Slams Azerbaijan Over Ceasefire Violations Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalian (file photo) Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of dishonoring its commitments to strengthen ceasefire after border incidents over the weekend in which at least one Armenian soldier was killed and two others were wounded. Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalian said on Monday that the recent violations show that authorities in Baku have shown disregard for the obligations undertaken during the two countries’ leaders in Vienna, Austria, earlier this year. “The intentional and provocative violations of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan contradict the commitments to maintain and strengthen the ceasefire that were made at the level of the leaders of the two states at the Vienna Summit on March 29. They disregard the statement adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-chairs following their June 20 meeting in Washington with the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] foreign ministers, in which the parties were urged to strictly adhere to their commitment to respect the ceasefire and refrain from provocative actions by using snipers along the line of contact and the state border,” Naghdalian said. The Foreign Ministry representative stressed that Yerevan condemns “the provocations that lead to human casualties and are accompanied by Azerbaijan’s refusal to implement security and confidence-building measures aimed at maintaining and strengthening the ceasefire.” In a statement released by the Foreign Ministry Naghdalian stressed that Azerbaijan’s actions “create a risk of increased tensions, for which the entire responsibility lies with the Azerbaijani side.” After the Saturday incident at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in which an Armenian contract soldier was wounded Armenia’s Defense Ministry also accused Azerbaijan of seeking to escalate the border situation. “Another provocative action by the Azerbaijani side once again proves that the enemy continues to brazenly violate the ceasefire regime and consistently escalate the situation on the border. It is Azerbaijan that bears full responsibility for the escalation of the situation,” it said. The following day military authorities in Yerevan reported that an Armenian contract serviceman was shot dead at the northeastern section of the border with Azerbaijan. Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovannisian on Monday reported about another Armenian soldier wounded at the border with Azerbaijan in the northeastern Tavush province. Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated region that has been de-facto independent from Baku after a three-year war in the early 1990s, in which an estimated 30,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced. Despite a 1994 ceasefire, loss of life has continued in the conflict zone in recurrent border skirmishes and sporadic fighting. An internationally mediated peace process spearheaded by the OSCE Minsk Group has so far failed to produce a lasting settlement of the conflict. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org