Armenia: ex-president Robert Kocharyan arrested for dispersing demonstrators

A Yerevan court has arrested Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, charged with dispersing demonstrators in 2008, for two months. His defence intends to appeal against the arrest.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 1 this year, in Yerevan, participants of the action in memory of the victims of the dispersal of demonstration in March 2008 demanded to punish the law enforcers who had not born any responsibility for that dispersal. After the advent to power of the oppositional leader Nikol Pashinyan, a criminal case was opened in the context of violent overthrow of the constitutional order during the events of 2008. On July 26, Kocharyan was charged within this case.

Today, a Yerevan court has satisfied investigators' demand to arrest Kocharyan.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 3, Colonel-General Mikael Arutyunyan, the then head of the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD), was declared wanted within the same criminal case of dispersing protesters in Yerevan. Investigators also demand to arrest Yuri Khachaturov, the current Secretary General of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization, also known as the ODKB), within the same case.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 27, 2018 at 11:54 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.