Link Between the New Charges Brought Against Kocharyan and Statements by Silva Hambardzumyan

On February 12, 2019 the Special Investigative Service of Armenia brought new charges against Robert Kocharyan, second president of Armenia. In addition to the charges of the Criminal Code, Article 300.1 for disruption of the constitutional order, Kocharyan is charged for receiving significant amounts of bribes (Criminal Code’s Article 311, Part 4, Clause 2).

The new charges are related to the alleged bribe-taking as declared by businesswoman Silva Hambardzumyan. In 2018, she publicly stated that 10 years ago she gave large amounts of money to Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan and Armen Gevorgyan. In a comment to the charges brought against Samvel Mayrapetyan, owner of H2 TV channel, she said that in 2008 she sold her shares in a mining project to the arabs, however in order not to be hindered, she paid large amounts to the above-mentioned people, while Mayrapetyan acted as an intermediary, reports Armtimes.com. Viktor Soghomonyan, head of Kocharyan’s office, called these statements absurd and lies.

Second President Kocharyan has been arrested since December 7, 2018. His attorneys disputed the decision of the first instance court to extend his arrest for another 2 months to no avail. The Court of Appeals declined the appeal completely.