Kocharyan expresses doubts about judicial independence in Armenia
Second Armenian President Robert Kocharyan expressed doubts about the independence of Armenia's judiciary after Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Chairman Karen Andreasyan was forced out.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told Andreasyan and several other top officials to leave their posts last week.
"How secure are other judges if the SJC chairman gives up his post due to a single SMS?" Kocharyan said, addressing a court hearing on Thursday.
“All judges should think about why the SJC head discredited them and landed them in hot water,” the ex-president said, adding the independence of all judges is under threat if the SJC chairman, who is tasked with ensuring it, “cannot protect his own independence”.
"Now everyone can doubt weather a judge is independent or makes decisions based on an SMS," Kocharyan added.
Earlier in September, the Anti-Corruption Court in Yerevan opened a fresh trial of Robert Kocharyan and three other former government officials Yuri Khachaturov, Seyran Ohanyan in connection with the post-election unrest in Yerevan on 1 March 2008.
The coup charges against the four men were dropped after Armenia’s Constitutional Court declared them unconstitutional in 2021.