A large Russian corporation reappointed Armenia’s former President Robert Kocharian as a member of its board of directors on Saturday four days after he was again arrested on coup and corruption charges denied by him.
The holding company AFK Sistema has stakes in a wide range of sectors, including telecommunications, energy and financial services. In particular, it controls Russia’s leading mobile phone operator, MTS.
MTS bought one of Armenia’s three wireless networks in 2007 less than a year before Kocharian completed his second and final presidential term. He joined Sistema’s board as an “independent director” in 2009.
Sistema’s shareholders reelected the board’s 11 members, including Kocharian, at an annual meeting held in Moscow. The majority shareholder, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, reportedly advocated the ex-president’s reappointment, saying that the charges brought against him are “clearly political.”
“We decided to include him in the new board of directors … because we believe it’s the right thing to do,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Yevtushenkov as saying. He said Kocharian agreed to continue to sit on the board after being most recently released from prison on May 18.
Russia -- Chairman of conglomerate Sistema Vladimir Yevtushenkov attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2014 in St. Petersburg, May 23, 2014
Kocharian was arrested on June 25 for a third time since being indicted in July 2018 in connection with the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan, which left eight opposition protesters and two police personnel dead. He is specifically accused of illegally using Armenian army units against opposition protesters that protested against alleged fraud in the February 2008 presidential election.
Earlier this year, Kocharian was also charged with bribery. He denies both accusations as politically motivated.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also alleged political motives behind the high-profile case in July 2018. Russian President Vladimir Putin showed support for his former Armenian counterpart by talking to the latter by phone and sending him New Year greetings.
The Russian ambassador to Armenia, Sergey Kopyrkin, met with Kocharian on June 13, prompting criticism from political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Kopyrkin was summoned to the Armenian Foreign Ministry because of that.
Pashinian and other Armenian officials maintain that Kocharian’s prosecution is not politically motivated.