YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. The attorneys of 2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan have submitted a number of grounds to the Court of Appeals to release the 2nd President, but he was released based on only the ground of the person’s immunity. Therefore, the attorneys made a decision to submit an appeal to the Court of Cassation so that two more of their grounds will be discussed there, attorney Hayk Alumyan said during a press conference. He added that their appeal, in addition to the ground of immunity, also contains at least two grounds which, according to them, are also very important, Armenpress reported.

The attorney said the charge launched against Kocharyan contains a section which says that the state of emergency declared during the 2008 March 1 events by Kocharyan’s decree has been illegal and anti-Constitutional.

“The decree can be recognized illegal only by the decision of the Constitutional Court. In other words, as long as there is no decision of the Constitutional Court, no one has a right to say on behalf of the state that that decree has been illegal”, Hayk Alumyan said.

The attorney also stated that the Special Investigation Service should have not commented on the decision of the Court of Appeals. “The Special Investigation Service is talking on behalf of the state. It can state that it doesn’t agree with the decision of the Court and will appeal to the Court of Cassation, but not to say that the decision is illegal”, he said.

He added that he doesn’t think that Kocharyan may hinder the preliminary investigation.

2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan has been charged over the 2008 March 1 case for breaching the constitutional order of the Republic of Armenia during the 2008 March 1-2 events in Yerevan. Kocharyan was remanded into custody. His attorneys appealed the court ruling. The Court of Appeals approved the appeal, and as a result Kocharyan has been released.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said they will discuss the possibility to appeal to the Court of Cassation after receiving the complete decision of the Court of Appeals.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan