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Armenia’s Investigative Committee has rejected a motion to find second President Robert Kocharyan an aggrieved party in the case of the leaked wiretapped telephone conversation between the security and investigation chiefs.

The motion filed by Kocharyan’s legal representative, Hovhannes Khudoyan, claimed that the content of the conversation contained ‘explicit proofs on illegally restricting Robert Kocharyan’s freedom,’ Khudoyan told Panorama.am.

He also said that the committee has turned down the motion citing the absence of facts over intervention into the court activity in the conversation after conducting appropriate investigative and procedural actions.

The attorney added that they now intend to appeal the Investigative Committee’s decision on rejecting the motion to grant Kocharyan a victim’s status in the case to Armenia’s Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan.

The scandalous recording of the wiretapped conversation between National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsyan and Special Investigation Service Head Sasun Khachatryan was leaked to the public in September. In the recording, the two top officials informally discuss the ongoing criminal investigation into the March 1-2, 2008 post-election crackdown in Yerevan, with Kocharyan charged with overthrowing the constitutional order during that period.