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The lawyers of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan have appealed the arrest ruling of a Yerevan appellate court to the Court of Cassation.   

On 7 December, the Court of Appeals, under presiding judge Ruben Mkhitaryan, reinstated the pre-trial arrest of the former president by upholding the ruling of the first instance court and rejecting all the complaints filed by his defense team.

The lawyers say the appeal comprised of 107 pages argues a fundamental violation of human rights and freedoms, including the presumption of innocence, fair trial, etc.

The defense team said they are going to file a motion to the court to again release the ex-president on bail.

Kocharyan was initially arrested in July on charges of ‘overthrowing the constitutional order’ during the March 1-2, 2008 post-election events.

He was freed by the Court of Appeals on 13 August on the basis of immunity from prosecution.

Both the attorney general and Kocharyan’s lawyers appealed that ruling, with the latter claiming that there were also other legal grounds for his release.

On 15 November, the Court of Cassation rejected Kocharyan’s appeal and only partly satisfied the prosecutors’ demands to send the case back to the Court of Appeals for re-examination.

Kocharyan denies the accusation as ‘politically motivated’.