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The Armenian Prosecutor General's Office has rejected a motion filed by a group of lawmakers asking the structure to reconsider the arrest ruling against former President Robert Kocharyan, who is charged with usurping power in the period of March 2008 post-election unrest.

Speaking to Panorama.am, the head of the Public Relations Department of the agency, Arevik Khachatryan said the grounds to remand the ex-president into custody are maintained in the current phase of investigation.  

“Imposing a measure of restraint other than arrest still cannot guarantee the smooth course of the investigation through the defendant’s proper conduct,” she said.

A total of 45 MPs signed a petition initiated by the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), asking for a change in the measure of restraint against ex-President Kocharyan.

On Tuesday, a group of Artsakh MPs also launched a similar petition, citing the former president’s ‘contribution to the development and state building of Armenia and Artsakh.’

Kocharyan is arrested for two months according to the Yerevan court ruling issued on 27 July.

Armenia’s Special Investigative Service has charged him with overthrowing the constitutional order in the country with a group of people in the scope of the criminal case launched into the March 2008 post-election crackdown in Armenia, which left eight civilians and two police officers dead.   

Kocharyan, who served as Armenia’s president at the time of March 1, 2008, declared a 20-day state of emergency, with the approval of the Armenian parliament, banning future demonstrations and charged for “illegally mobilizing Armenia’s Armed Forces against peaceful demonstrators,” that was qualified as a “breach of constitutional order.”

He has not pleaded guilty, claiming the charges are ‘politically motivated.’