Kocharyan’s trial sparks political crisis in Armenia

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 24 May 2019 by Alex Teddy
On May 18, former President Robert Kocharyan was surprisingly released on bail after spending 5 months in prison on pre-trial. The decision was completely unexpected because only five days before – the day the trial started - Kocharyan based his defence on the lack of legitimacy of the court, as well as calling the whole process a clear case of political persecution. He is accused of “overthrowing the constitutional order” and accepting a bribe of USD 3 million. His former chief of staff, Armen Gregorvyan, and two retired Generals, Yuri Kachaturov (CSTO General Secretary between April 2017 and November 2018) and Seyran Ohanyan, former chief of the Army’s General Staff, are facing charges of “usurping state power” during the March 2008 protests. On May 16, Bako Sahakyan and Arkady Ghukasyan – current and former presidents of Nagorno Karabakh - requested the court to release him on bail and offered themselves to act as guarantors. Kocharyan was President of Nagorno Karabakh between 1994 and 1997 and PM before that. Authorities from the region have publicly opposed the new government in Yerevan in the last months. PM Nikol Pashinyan accused the Nagorno Karabakh leaders of conspiracy, and gathered on Monday more than 1,000 supporters in front of the Court to block access to it. The lack of a neat division of power in Armenia and, as a consequence, the subjugation of the judicial system to the political power was one of the main points of PM Pashinyan’s My Step bloc’s program. Now, many analysts and political figures have criticized the government’s response to the crisis, labelling it as just another “populist” way of putting pressure on judges. After receiving several cri...

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