Court leaves Robert Kocharyan under arrest

Today, the Armenian Court of Appeal has refused to release on bail Robert Kocharyan, the second president of the country. An advocate has announced the intention to challenge the court's decision at the cassation instance.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 15, the court dismissed the motion filed by the defence of Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, to release him on bail. The court extended his arrest for two months. On March 20, the court's decision was challenged at the Court of Appeal. On April 9, the Armenian Court of Appeal started a trial behind closed doors on the Robert Kocharyan's complaint.

Today, the Armenian Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the first instance court to extend the Robert Kocharyan's arrest for two months and also dismissed the defence motion to release him on bail, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed by Hayk Alumyan, an advocate of Robert Kocharyan.

According to the advocate, the court "ignored all existing norms of the law" and argued its dismissal of the defence motion by stating that being at liberty, Robert Kocharyan could interfere with the investigation. "However, a person can interfere with the investigation at its initial stage, but at later stages, such an argument loses its relevance. There is a decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concerning this point," stated Hayk Alumyan. The advocate has also added that the court's decision to dismiss the defence motion will be challenged at the Court of Cassation.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 11, 2019 at 01:32 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.