At the reopened trial over the March 1 case, Armenia’s second president Robert Kocharyan declared that the presented “indictment is a political document.”
“This indictment is a political paper, not written by lawyers. It was drafted in political rooms, it contains absurdities,” Kocharyan said, as reported by RFE/RL.
He was responding to a prosecutors’ motion filed during the restarted trial last year. According to the motion, the charges were reformulated, and Kocharyan and his former subordinates are now accused of abuse of official authority.
“The indictment cites two motives: first, to keep the desirable government at all costs, and second, to transfer it to Serzh Sargsyan. Even the investigator couldn’t explain to me what this so-called desirable system of government was—I even asked artificial intelligence,” the former president remarked.
“I don’t know what the law enforcement system has wanted from me for the past seven years,” he added.
The prosecution, however, insists that Kocharyan’s acquittal was not final, as it was overturned by the Court of Cassation. On this basis, prosecutors argue they have the authority to bring new charges since the trial remains ongoing.
Robert Kocharyan was indicted in 2018 under the article of overthrowing the constitutional order. The Constitutional Court later ruled that article unconstitutional, after which the first-instance court acquitted him. However, the Cassation Court overturned the acquittal and returned the case for a new trial.
