A Yerevan court has ordered two months’ pretrial detention for lawyer Alexander Kochubaev after a judge ruled on the basis of his social media posts criticizing the judiciary and prosecutorial officials.
The decision, handed down by Judge Masis Melkonyan of Yerevan’s General Jurisdiction Court of First Instance, was confirmed by lawyer Roman Yeritsyan. According to Yeritsyan, Kochubaev was arrested due to his criticism of investigators, prosecutors, and judges, and faces an “absurd” criminal charge for a medium‑severity crime.
Yeritsyan added that Melkonyan ignored the pleas of thousands of students, hundreds of clients, and academic concerns tied to Kochubaev, and returned from a one‑hour recess only to grant the motion for detention, bar visits, and not address any arguments from 24 defending attorneys.
Lawyer Erik Aleksanyan, speaking to reporters in front of the Armenian Investigative Committee, confirmed that the case against Kochubaev is directly linked to his Facebook post. The post contained strong language referring to “monsters and investigators, prosecutors, judges having sold their souls,” and other sharp criticisms. Aleksanyan argued that while the language was harsh, insult per se was decriminalized in Armenia, and the post contained no false defamatory statements.
He also questioned how Kochubaev could have caused “significant damage” to the lawful rights or interests of judges or prosecutors through that post, but said the charge under Article 490, Part 2 of the Criminal Code has nonetheless been framed.
Kochubaev denies the charges, refuses to testify otherwise than affirming authorship of his post, and intends to contest the decision in court. On October 16, he was brought from Shengavit Court premises into custody. The Investigative Committee announced the formal charge under Article 490, Part 2 – publishing defamatory or harmful information about a judge, prosecutor, or investigator in relation to their official or professional conduct.
In his Facebook post, Kochubaev wrote, in part: “Monsters, investigators, prosecutors, and judges who have sold your souls to the devil. Your punishment will be heavenly. I pray to the Lord that He does not forgive you and that you atone for your sins through generations. Bishop Mkrtich will continue his service in the KGB basement. As for you, you were sons of a bitch once, and that’s exactly what you’ve remained.”
