The trial of Robert Kocharian, the former president of Armenia, ended without a verdict

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, the long-term trial of former president Robert Kocharian Armenia’s corruption charges ended without a verdict as Kocharian agreed to legal restrictions despite vehemently denying the charges.

Kocharian, who led Armenia from 1998 to 2008, was first in He was arrested in July 2018 after the “Velvet Revolution” that brought Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to power.

He was initially accused of violently suppressing opposition protests after the 2008 election.

After that, the former president of Armenia was accused of accepting a $3 million bribe from a business woman.

The trial of Kocharian, his head of state, Armen Georgian, and two The retired general started in May 2019.

All of them denied the allegations and cited political motivation as the reason. Kocharian claimed that the trial was part of a “political revenge” launched against him by Pashinyan. The charge was dropped.

Despite this, the bribery case against Kocharian and Georgian continued.

Expiration of the indictment

On December 27, Judge Anna Danibekyan, presiding over the court, terminated the case in question without judging the defendants.

The judge said: the indictment of this case has expired.

Kocharian’s lawyers said earlier this year that there is no verdict other than an official rejection. They do not accept the case.

Armenian experts believe that even if found guilty, the 69-year-old former president, who currently heads the largest opposition alliance, will not serve a prison sentence.

What are Robert Kocharian’s accusations?

Kocharian has been accused of being involved in the events of March 1, 2008 and subverting constitutional order.

After the presidential elections of February 19, 2008, opposition forces and supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first president After the Central Election Commission declared Serzh Sargsyan the winner, Armenians took to the streets to protest the election results, which they said were rigged.

While suppressing the protests, Military weapons were used and 10 people including 2 policemen were killed. At that time, Robert Kocharian was the president of Armenia.

Until the velvet revolution of Armenia last year, the case of the events of 2008 did not make any progress. However, Nikol Pashinyan’s government, which came to power after the Velvet Revolution, immediately launched the case. but two weeks later the court ruled that he has judicial immunity and ordered his release.

After Kocharian was released in August 2018, the court hearing his case on November 15 sent to the Court of Appeal the same year.

On December 7, 2018, the Court of Appeal decided to detain the former president. From that day on, Robert Kocharian was in prison until May 18, 2019.

After the current and former presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku Sahakian and Arkady Khokasian, accepted Kocharian’s bail. And they asked the judge of the case to approve Kocharian’s conditional release considering Kocharian’s role in the formation of these two Armenian republics, his important role in the Nagorno-Karabakh war, the formation of the Armenian army, etc. As a result, on May 18, 2019, Kocharian was released on bail.

Kocharian also faces another charge. In February 2019, Kocharian was accused of accepting $3 million in bribes. The former president of Armenia declared the purpose of this case to confiscate his assets, because this was not possible based on the first case.

Robert Kocharian does not recognize any of the charges against him and is behind the scenes of them. considers it a political order from the current authorities of Armenia. Kocharian was re-arrested for the last time on June 25.

Robert Kocharian, originally from Nagorno-Karabakh, led the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh regime before being elected president of Armenia in 1998.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its surrounding areas were occupied under his leadership.

As the leader of Armenia, he was the most uncompromising president. adopted a position in the negotiations with the Republic of Azerbaijan regarding the settlement of Karabakh. Does he accept the signing of the peace agreement before delimiting the borders? What is the peace between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia?-Part I