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The decisions of the Yerevan Criminal Courts of Appeals on the case of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan were made in a ‘gross violation’ of the rules of trial procedure and human rights, one of his lawyers Hovhannes Khudoyan told a news conference on Wednesday.

“The violations persist even after the announcement of the verdict. The court continues to hinder the process by arbitrary interpretations,” the lawyer insisted, promising to elaborate on the mater soon.

Khudoyan says the court ruling, which takes effect from the moment of its publication, overturns the decision of a lower court to suspend the ex-president’s trial, ordering that the case be resumed from the moment of interruption by the same court.

“This means the first instant court must resume hearings in the case from the moment of interruption. But the problem is the Court of Appeals fails to return the materials of the case to the first instance court to resume the process,” he said.

The lawyer argues the defense team is often blamed for delaying the former president’s trial, while it’s the court that is protracting the process at the moment.

“For various reasons unclear for us, the materials of the case are not returned to the first instance court, the process is stalled at this point, without any legal basis," Khudoyan insisted.

The Yerevan appellate court ruled to arrest Kocharyan for the third time on 25 June, granting the prosecutors’ appeals against the lower court’s decisions to release Kocharyan from custody and suspend his trial, forwarding the case to the Constitutional Court for review. Judge Armen Danielyan, presiding over the high-profile trial, announced the decision in the absence of ex-president Kocharyan and the members of his defense team.