YEREVAN, APRIL 17, ARMENPRESS. The General Prosecution has seen the grounds for keeping ex-President Robert Kocharyan under arrest, Prosecutor General Arthur Davtyan told reporters today.

“And based on these grounds the investigative body had filed a motion on extending the period of pre-trial arrest, recently the appeal was discussed at the Court of Appeals, and we believe the grounds of arrest still exist”, Davtyan said.

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

He vehemently denies wrongdoing.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan