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The Yerevan Court of Appeals, presided over by judge Armen Danielyan, started today hearings on prosecutors’ appeal against the rulings of a lower court to release Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan from custody and to suspend the high-profile trial.

Earlier on 18 May, Davit Grigoryan, a Yerevan first instance court judge presiding over the ex-president’s case, suspended Kocharyan’s trial citing a “suspicion of discrepancy” between the Armenian Constitution and the charges brought against him two days after ordering his release from custody and forwarded the case to the Constitutional Court for a review.

The judge’s decisions were appealed by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the representatives of the legal successors of the victims of March 2008 post-election events Kocharyan is standing trial for.

The former president and Armenia’s Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan are present at today’s court hearing.

Meanwhile, dozens of supporters of the former president are staging a protest outside the court building, claiming Kocharyan is one of the two political prisoners in Armenia now.