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Former president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan believes the wiretapped phone conversation between the heads of the National Security Service (NSS) Artur Vanetsyan and the Special Investigative Service (SIS) Sasun Khachatryan comes as an evidence of pressure on the judicial power in the country. Kocharyan made the comments in an interview to Yerevan Today.

To remind, a scandalous recording of the wiretapped conversation between the heads of two security agencies was leaked to the public on Tuesday. In the recording, the two high-level officials informally discuss the criminal investigation into the so-called March 1 events in the scope of which charges are brought against Robert Kocharyan. In particular, the interlocutors discuss PM Pashinyan’s “ordering the arrest” of Kocharyan and the phone conversation with a judge.

“This is a clear evidence that a crime was committed – a pressure on the court. In general, all our predictions were true that the criminal case is of political nature, it has no relation to the March 1 events and pursues one goal - to imprison me,” Kocharyan said.

In the ex-president’s words, the wiretapping scandal should have been followed by resignations and apologies. “In any country - not only in developed democratic ones - similar scandals should have been followed by resignations and apologies to the public for the crime,” added Kocharyan.

To remind, Vanetsyan and Khachatryan gave a joint press conference on Tuesday, announcing their readiness to step down upon a public demand. Both claimed that publishing of the leaked recording was aimed at derailing the activities of the institutions they head.