“This indictment is a political document; it was not written by lawyers—it was drafted in political offices. It contains absurdities,” former President Robert Kocharyan said today during the trial in the March 1 case.
Kocharyan was responding to a prosecution motion submitted last year, in which the prosecution asked the court to amend the charges against him in the March 1 case and bring a new charge related to the abuse of official powers against him and his former subordinates.
“There are two motives behind this indictment: first, to hold on to the desired power at any cost, and second, to transfer it to Serzh Sargsyan. Even the investigator did not answer me what the ‘desired power system’ is—I even resorted to artificial intelligence,” the former president said.
Kocharyan was charged in 2018 under the article on overthrowing the constitutional order. The Constitutional Court later declared this article unconstitutional, after which the trial court acquitted the former president. However, the Court of Cassation annulled the acquittal and sent the case back to the first-instance court for a retrial.
“I don’t know what the law enforcement system has wanted from me for seven years,” Kocharyan added.
The prosecution, however, continues to insist that Kocharyan’s acquittal has not taken effect, has been annulled, and therefore the trial is not over, obliging them to present new charges.
