The France-based lawyer of former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, who has been charged with overthrowing the constitutional order during the 2008 protests in his country, said on Monday that the legal proceedings against his client violated the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR)
YEREVAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd July, 2019) The France-based lawyer of former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, who has been charged with overthrowing the constitutional order during the 2008 protests in his country, said on Monday that the legal proceedings against his client violated the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR)."From the European point of view, the legal proceedings are over. Multiple violations of the European Convention of Human Rights took place over this year. They culminated in the last month ruling [of the Court of Appeals] that had deprived the lawyers of an opportunity to speak after the prosecution presented its stance. Such things don't happen even in dictatorships," Sevak Torosyan said, labeling the events in Armenia as "historic."
Another of Kocharyan's lawyers added that the very trial by the Court of Appeals was illegitimate since the case was already under the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court.
Kocharyan, who served as president from 1998 to 2008, was charged with attempts to overthrow Armenia's constitutional order by suppressing opposition protests on March 1-2, 2008.
The protests were held by supporters of then-presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who refused to recognize the results of the election, won by Kocharyan's ally Serzh Sargsyan in February 2008. The rallies led to clashes with police and army who dispersed protesters. Ten people were killed and around 200 were injured. Kocharyan has been under pre-trial custody since December.
In May, after top leaders of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic vouched for him to not flee future trials, a court in Yerevan ruled to release him and suspend criminal proceedings. The judges also decided to direct the case to the Constitutional Court for it to determine whether Kocharyan must be tried as a state official or private citizen. Later in June, the Court of Appeals annulled this ruling and placed him under arrest again.
The prosecution unfolded in the aftermath of the velvet revolution in Armenia, which has brought former opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan to power, and Kocharyan repeatedly denounced the charges against him as fabricated and politically motivated.
