NKR politicians stand up for Kocharyan

The incumbent and former presidents of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), Bako Saakyan and Arkady Gukasyan, have appealed to the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Armenia asking to release the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, but received a refusal.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 16, investigators put forward the charges on the case of clashes of law enforcers with protesting oppositionists on March 1-2, 2008, to the second Armenian President, Robert Kocharyan, and three other former high-ranking officials. On April 29, 2019, the country's General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) announced the transfer of the case to the court and accused Robert Kocharyan of receiving bribes in the amount of 3 million US dollars.

In their appeal, Messrs Saakyan and Gukasyan state that they are ready to act as guarantors for the release of Robert Kocharyan from custody and of his stay at large during the entire period until the upcoming trial.

The GPO responded to their appeal with a refusal, referring to the fact that, according to Article 151 of the Armenian Code of Criminal Procedure, the freedom restriction measure can be changed by the body in charge of the criminal proceedings, Arevik Khachatryan, the GPO's press secretary, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In the opinion of Naira Airumyan, a political observer and the editor of the Russian-language version of the "Lragir.am", the appeal of Saakyan and Gukasyan is well in line with the logic of actions of the NKR's political elite, who failed to unambiguously accept the revolution in Armenia in the spring of 2018.

"The total crossing out of everything positive that has been achieved in recent years has cast a shadow over the NKR as a whole, with which Stepanakert wouldn't agree. The letter by Saakyan and Gukasyan can be treated as a manifestation of NKR's disagreement with the tough methods of political struggle in Armenia. This is an attempt to return processes back into the framework of 'fraternal' relations, when it is possible to agree on everything," Ms Airumyan has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 10, 2019 at 02:58 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.