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The court hearing of the criminal case against Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan and three other former officials will take place on Monday 13 May, member of Kocharyan’s defense team Hovhannes Khudoyan told Panorama.am, citing the respective court notice.

Asked about the possibility of filing a petition to recuse the judge from the case, Khudoyan said the matter depends on clarification of number of issues.

To remind, Judge Vardan Grigoryan is set to preside over the trial of the former top officials, including former Dedense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, ex-CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov and former Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of the National Security Council Armen Gevorgyan. Earlier, judges of Yerevan district court, Nelly Baghdasaryan and Harutyun Manukyan, decided to recuse themselves from the case.

According to the indictment, Kocharyan is charged with overthrowing Armenia’s constitutional order during the March 1-2, 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan, abusing his powers and taking a bribe of large amount during his tenure from 1998 to 2008.

Seyran Ohanyan and Yuri Khachaturov, who served as Armenia’s deputy defense minister in 2008, have also been charged with an overthrow of the constitutional order during the post-election events.

Meanwhile, Armen Gevorgyan is charged with assistance to an overthrow of the constitutional order, corruption and money laundering. The former president is currently remanded in pre-trial custody. Ohanyan and Gevorgyan have been released on a signature bond, while Yuri Khachaturov has been set free on bail.