YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Judge Nelly Baghdasaryan, the judge who presided over the court proceedings in former President Robert Kocharyan’s bail hearings, has recused herself following a peremptory challenge filed by the prosecutors.

“The grounds are unknown. Tonight the decisions will be provided to the sides after what we will be able to make assessments,” Kocharyan’s lawyer Aram Orbelyan told reporters.

The peremptory challenge of judge was filed by the prosecutor on January 9. The prosecutor said the reason for filing the motion is that this same judge had earlier recused herself from an unrelated case concerning the March 1 events, citing conflicts of interest.

2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, who ruled the country from 1998 to 2008, spent two weeks in jail in summer 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 by going to a Yerevan jail.

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

He vehemently denies wrongdoing.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan