Kocharyan to appeal to higher court, ECHR

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. Ex-President Robert Kocharyan will appeal today’s court decision to the Court of Cassation, and he will also file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, Kocharyan’s lawyer Hayk Alumyan told reporters.

Today, the Court of Appeals rejected Kocharyan’s request to be granted bail, and the ex-president will remain jailed.

2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, who ruled the country from 1998 to 2008, spent two weeks in jail in summer of 2018, but was eventually freed. But on December 7, a higher court overruled the release and ordered him to be remanded into custody pending trial again.

At the time the court announced the verdict, Kocharyan turned himself in to authorities.

Kocharyan is charged for ‘overthrowing constitutional order’ during the 2008 post-election unrest, when clashes between security forces and protesters left 10 people dead, including two police officers, during his final days as president.

He vehemently denies wrongdoing.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan