The Prosecutor General’s Office did not participate in the discussions on returning second Armenian President Robert Kocharyan's passport, his legal team said in a statement on Tuesday. The statement reads:
"After hearing the motions of second Armenian President Robert Kocharyan's attorneys, the prosecutors expressed their position, not agreeing with them and bringing their arguments.
During the speech of prosecutor Gevorg Baghdasaryan, an incident took place at the court between the lawyers of second President Robert Kocharyan and Baghdasaryan. The tensions grew when Robert Kocharyan hinted that one of the people who handed over Shushi was Gevorg Baghdasaryan. A break was announced to stop the dispute, after which the judge reprimanded the participants in the dispute.
Robert Kocharyan clarified what he meant by hinting at handing over Shushi. "When they have been attempting for 2.5 years to try the liberators of Shushi, Kelbajar and others, it has directly contributed to all that happened two months ago, it has directly contributed by discrediting the army, discrediting 3 colonel-generals. And in general, there is a saying that if a nation does not honor its heroes, it is left without heroes. That's all I meant.
“And if people helped the officials who were directly responsible for all of it – land losses, casualties, missing people – willy-nilly, deliberately or not thinking about the consequences, they factually contribute to it. This is my conviction, which I will express everywhere, including at this court hearing,” Kocharyan said.
“I am accused of declaring a state of emergency for 20 days and imposing certain restrictions. We have been living in a state of emergency or martial law for nearly a year. It has been 2.5 months since the war ended, but the martial law remains in force. Do prosecutors have anything to do here or not? Do you consider this normal?
“For whom is the martial law being maintained? With the martial law in place, the Azeris come to Shurnukh and force people out of their homes, and only the village head and a handful of his fellow villagers are defending the border. The main function of the state is to defend the state borders and to ensure the security of its citizens. But who does this? Was the constitutional order overthrown then or on 1 March 2008?” Kocharyan announced.
Following Prosecutor Baghdasaryan's position, defense lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan partially withdrew his motion for recusal, as the prosecutor stated that he did not know how Kocharyan's passport had been returned to him.
"The Prosecutor's Office has not participated in the discussions on it and has no information to object or not to object to it," Baghdasaryan said.
The court finished hearing the motions and went to the deliberation room. The ruling will be issued on January 22, at 1pm.”