Epress.am News from Armenia
The Court of Appeals has announced arrest as a means of restraint against Robert Kocharyan, second president of Armenia charged over violating the constitutional order. Kocharyan was not present at the hearing on December 7. According to his attorneys, he will not try to escape and will turn himself in.
Attorney Hayk Aloumyan declared the court decision unprecedented. “From the perspective of legal violations, this was unprecedented for me. For our legal community, it is evident that the decision was made under pressure.” To the question to clarify the kind of pressures he had in mind, Aloumyan said, “What we have heard and seen on TV and in the Internet.”
Attorney Ruben Sahakyan said that the term of the arrest is not specified yet. He links the court decision “with pre-electoral furore. Tomorrow is the silence day and they need to feed the society with the news that Kocharyan is arrested, go ahead and vote for N 4. I have no doubts that many will do so, but not myself.” “My Step” party coalition is N 4 in the electoral lists of the early parliamentary elections of December 9.