Supporters and detractors of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan on Thursday staged demonstrations outside the Shengavit Residence of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction.

The court was set to start the first hearing in the case of Kocharyan, former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, ex-CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov and former Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan, at 1pm. The case has been assigned to judge Anna Danibekyan.

The ex-president’s supporters demand the court to implement September 3 ruling of the Constitutional Court to release Kocharyan.

A Kocharyan supporter, Zaruhi Sargsyan stressed their protest was peaceful and expressed conviction the justice would prevail.

“We hope Anna Danibekyan will find inner strength and will be smart enough to make a decision to immediately release Robert Kocharyan,” she said.

The former president’s supporters next marched towards Komitas Pantheon to lay flowers at the graves of cultural figures and prominent people.