Kocharyan treats his arrest as Pashinyan's revenge

Robert Kocharyan, the second President of Armenia, accused of overthrowing the constitutional order, believes that the decision to arrest him was made under pressure from Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 15, 2018, the Cassation Court of Armenia annulled the decision of the Court of Appeal on Robert Kocharyan's release from custody. The issue of the arrest of the country's second president was again sent to the appeal instance, which on December 7 ruled to arrest Kocharyan.

After the decision of the Court of Appeal on his arrest, Robert Kocharyan himself came to the National Security Service (NSS) and was detained there, his advocate Ayk Alumyan has reported.

Mr Kocharyan's defence has stated that in parallel with the complaint to the Armenian Court of Cassation, they intend to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Robert Kocharyan has released, through his press secretary, a statement that the decision to arrest him was made by the court under the tough pressure from the authorities. According to his version, it is confirmed by the presence of six representatives of the prosecution led by the Prosecutor General at the session, which is unprecedented for Armenia, and by the fact that pro-governmental media published information about his arrest long before the verdict was announced.

"What happens is nothing but a personal execution, a real vendetta against me and my family," Mr Kocharyan has stated. He sees the confirmation, in particular, in the publication of the tapped conversations of the heads of the NSS and the Special Investigation Service and Nikol Pashinyan.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 8, 2018 at 09:33 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.