Your trusted source

The Special Investigative Service (SIS) of Armenian condemns the ruling of the Yerevan appellate court to release Armenia’s former President Robert Kocharyan from custody as illegal, the security agency told Panorama.am.

“The ruling of the Armenian Court of Appeals is illegal, and the court has overstepped the bounds of its powers,” the SIS said.

As reported earlier, the Court of Appeals, under the presiding judge Alexander Azaryan, approved on Monday the motion of Kocharyan’s attorneys who had appealed to commute the arrest ruling against the ex-president charged over March 1-2, 2008 events in capital Yerevan.

As one of the attorneys, Robert Sahakyan told reporters on Monday, the court justified its decision with the constitutional provision of immunity from persecution for former presidents.

The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled to remand Kocharyan into custody for two months on 27 July. The former president was taken into custody from the court hall, accused of “overthrowing the constitutional order in the country with a group of people” in the scope of the criminal investigation into the post-election crackdown following the presidential elections of 2008, which left eight civilians and two police officers dead.     

Kocharyan has dismissed the charges as politically motivated.