18:21, 20 March 2019

Defence challenges extension of Robert Kocharyan's arrest

Robert Kocharyan. Photo: screenshot by the Interesting World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OImp7Ymk2no

The arrest extension by two months has been appealed against at the Court of Appeal, the advocates of the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, have reported.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", on March 15, the court rejected the petition of Kocharyan's defence to release him on bail and extended his arrest by two months.

Robert Kocharyan was arrested on July 27, 2018, and accused of financial crimes, overthrow of the constitutional order in connection with the dispersal of protests in Yerevan in March 2008, as well as of a large-scale bribery. Later, the court overturned the arrest, citing the ex-president's immunity, but the appellate instance re-sanctioned his arrest.

According to Aram Orbelyan, one of the advocates, the arrest extension is unjustified. "There are no grounds to think that Kocharyan can escape from the investigation," he has stressed.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 20, 2019 at 02:37 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Armine Martirosyan

Source: CK correspondent