Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Kocharian Cleared Of Coup Charges
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian smiles during a court hearing in
Yerevan, March 30, 2021.
A judge in Yerevan threw out on Tuesday coup charges against former President
Robert Kocharian which Armenia’s Constitutional Court has declared
unconstitutional.
Kocharian as well as two retired generals were charged in 2018 with overthrowing
the constitutional order” under Article 300.1 of the Armenian Criminal Code. The
accusation rejected by them as politically motivated stems from the 2008
post-election unrest that left ten people dead.
The current Criminal Code was enacted after the dramatic events of March 2008.
In a March 26 ruling, the Constitutional Court backed defense lawyers’ arguments
that it cannot be applied retroactively against Kocharian and the other
defendants.
Citing the court ruling, the lawyers demanded last week that the Anna
Danibekian, the judge presiding over their two-year trial, throw out the coup
charges. Danibekian accepted the demand.
The judge ruled that Kocharian and his former chief of staff, Armen Gevorgian,
will continue to stand trial only on bribery charges which they also strongly
deny. She fully acquitted the two other defendants, retired Generals Yuri
Khachaturov and Seyran Ohanian, who were prosecuted only in connection with the
post-election unrest.
Armenia - Judge Anna Danibekian presides over former President Robert
Kocharian's trial, Yerevan, March 30, 2021.
Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian last week appealed to the Constitutional Court
to also declare unconstitutional legal provisions that do not allow the
prosecutors to alter the coup accusations leveled against the defendants. The
trial prosecutors said the coup trial should therefore be suspended, rather than
discontinued altogether, pending a high court ruling on the appeal.
One of them, Petros Petrosian, said after Danibekian’s decision that the
prosecutors could again indict Kocharian over the 2008 crackdown on opposition
protesters in Yerevan if the Constitutional Court grants Davtian’s request.
One of Kocharian’s lawyers, Aram Orbelian, insisted, however, that the high
court exonerated the ex-president from all responsibility for the bloodshed.
“There are no grounds for bringing new [coup] charges,” Orbelian told reporters.
Meanwhile, a lawyer representing the families of nine victims of the unrest
deplored the development. Tigran Yegorian hit out at the Constitutional Court,
saying that its March 26 ruling was politically motivated and violated the
Armenian constitution.
Five of the court’s nine judges were installed after the “Velvet Revolution” of
April-May 2018 which brought Nikol Pashinian to power.
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian speaks during his trial in Yerevan,
May 16, 2019.
Pashinian was one of the main speakers at daily opposition rallies held in
Yerevan in the wake of a disputed presidential election held in February 2008 at
the end of Kocharian’s second and final term in office. Riot police used force
to end the protests on March 1-2, 2008. Eight protesters and two police
servicemen were killed as a result.
Pashinian and dozens of other opposition figures were subsequently jailed for
organizing what the former Armenian authorities described as “mass disturbances”
aimed at overthrowing the government.
Law-enforcement authorities radically changed the official version of events
shortly after the 2018 regime change. They first arrested Kocharian in July
2018. He was twice freed and twice rearrested before Armenia’s Court of Appeals
released him on bail in June 2020.
The 66-year-old ex-president has said that his prosecution is part of a
“political vendetta” waged by Pashinian. The Armenian prime minister denies any
interference in the probe of the 2008 violence.
Election Results ‘Not Important’ For Armenia’s Ties With Russia
• Astghik Bedevian
Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian in Moscow, December 27, 2018.
Armenia will maintain close ties with Russia regardless of the outcome of its
parliamentary elections planned for June, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in
an interview published on Tuesday.
“Russian-Armenian strategic, allied relations are quite rich and extensive,” he
told the Interfax news agency. “They are based on the historical proximity of
our friendly peoples. The character of these relations does not depend on the
outcome of the forthcoming pre-term elections.”
Pashinian is scheduled to visit Moscow and meet with Russian President Vladimir
Putin on Wednesday. The Kremlin said on Monday that the two leaders will discuss
bilateral ties and the implementation of a Russian-brokered agreement that
stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in November.
Pashinian has pledged to hold snap elections in late June in a bid to end a
serious political crisis in Armenia sparked by the six-week war.
A senior Russian official said late last week that Moscow hopes the planned vote
will be a “starting point for achieving long-term stability in Armenia.”
Pashinian also told Interfax that his government is “highly interested” in
continued military cooperation with Moscow and, in particular, fresh supplies of
Russian weapons. He said in that regard that Yerevan has not abandoned plans to
buy more Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jets for its armed forces. He gave no
time frames for their possible acquisition.
The Armenian military received four such multirole jets in December 2019. The
Defense Ministry in Yerevan has said that none of them was involved in the
six-week war with Azerbaijan because it has still not acquired sophisticated
rockets and bombs designed for Su-30SM.
Pashinian pledged to further deepen Russian-Armenian relations shortly after the
hostilities which left at least 3,500 Armenian soldiers dead and more than
10,000 others wounded. He said that his country needs “new security guarantees”
now.
Kocharian Sees Electoral Alliance With Opposition Parties
• Karlen Aslanian
• Naira Nalbandian
Russia - Former Armenian Robert Kocharian is interviewed by Russia's First
Channel.
Former President Robert Kocharian has said that he will team up with two or
three Armenian opposition parties to participate in snap parliamentary elections
expected in June.
In an interview with Russia’s leading state-run TV channel aired late on Monday,
Kocharian did not name any of those parties. He said only that he will lead the
electoral alliance.
Kocharian first announced his intention to contest the anticipated elections in
early February. “If the elections are held they will most probably be bipolar,”
he said, implying that the political force led by him will be Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian’s main challenger.
Reports in the Armenian press have said that the Kocharian-led bloc will
comprise the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), a major
opposition party.
A Dashnaktsutyun leader, Ishkhan Saghatelian, on Tuesday declined to confirm or
refute those reports. “Dashnaktsutyun has not yet made a final decision
[regarding the elections,]” he told reporters when asked to comment on
Kocharian’s remarks.
Saghatelian claimed at the same time that Pashinian may still abandon plans to
hold the elections in late June. “It’s best to kick out this government of evil
before the elections,” he said.
Dashnaktsutyun is a key member of the Homeland Salvation Movement, an opposition
alliance which has been holding street protests in a bid to force Pashinian to
resign over his handling of last year’s war with Azerbaijan.
Armenia - Dashnaktsutyun leader Ishkhan Saghatelian speaks to journalists, April
6, 2021.
Speaking to the Russian First Channel, Kocharian again blamed Pashinian for
Armenia’s defeat in the war. He claimed that the Armenian prime minister has
“methodically” weakened the armed forces and other state institutions since
coming to power in May 2018.
The ex-president, who had ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, also accused Pashinian’s
administration of being linked to Western-funded nongovernmental organizations
which he said have been trying to undermine Russian-Armenian relations.
Kocharian was arrested in July 2018 on coup charges rejected by him as
politically motivated. He was released on bail in June 2020 pending the outcome
of his ongoing trial.
Russia has criticized the criminal proceedings launched against Kocharian.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made a point of congratulating
him on his birthday anniversaries and praising his legacy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Tuesday reports that Putin spoke
with Kocharian by phone when the latter visited Moscow last week. “As you know,
they have long maintained a warm rapport and talk to each other quite often,”
Peskov said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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