Former President Robert Kocharian has appealed to Armenia’s Court of Cassation to release him from custody pending investigation into his role in the deadly breakup of 2008 opposition protests in Yerevan.
The court, which is the highest body of criminal justice in the country, was already asked by prosecutors to allow Kocharian’s pre-trial detention shortly after he was set free in August, less than a month after his first arrest. In November, it ordered the Court of Appeals to examine the case anew.
The Court of Appeals ruled in August that the Armenian constitution gives the ex-president immunity from prosecution. But in another ruling handed down on December 7, it said that investigators can prosecute and hold Kocharian under arrest. The latter was again taken into custody as a result.
Under Armenian law, the Court of Cassation has three months to decide whether to consider and rule on Kocharian’s appeal.
One of Kocharian’s lawyers, Hayk Alumian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Wednesday that he may also lodge a separate appeal asking a district court in Yerevan to free him on bail.
Kocharian stands accused of illegally using Armenian army units against opposition supporters who protested against alleged fraud in a disputed presidential election held in February 2008. Law-enforcement authorities say that amounted to an overthrow of the constitutional order.
Eight protesters and two police personnel were killed when security forces quelled the protests on March 1-2, 2008.
The 64-year-old ex-president, who ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, vehemently denies the charges, saying that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is waging a political “vendetta” against him.
Pashinian played a key role in the 2008 protests and spent nearly two years in prison because of that. He has strongly defended the criminal case against Kocharian.
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