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The grounds for keeping former President Robert Kocharyan in pre-trial custody still exist, Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan told reporters on Wednesday, commenting on the claims of the defense lawyers that with the preliminary investigation over there are no longer any grounds for his extended arrest.

“And based on these grounds the investigative body filed a motion to extend the arrest for another two months, recently the [defense] appeal was considered by the Court of Appeals, and it became clear that we believe the grounds for his arrest still exist,” the prosecutor said.

Kocharyan was again arrested in December, more than four months after being charged with overthrowing the constitutional order during the March 2008 post-election events.

The former president denies the charges as politically motivated.