OREANDA-NEWS. The court of first instance in Yerevan refused to stop the criminal prosecution of former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on the basis of a decision made by the country's Constitutional Court. “Since the prosecution is not present at today's hearing, the court considers it impossible to discuss the issue of ending the criminal prosecution. The next court session is scheduled for April 2”, Judge Anna Danibekyan said at the court session on Tuesday, March 30.

The defense of Kocharyan called on the judge to immediately stop the criminal prosecution against the former head of state in connection with the decision of the Constitutional Court on the inconsistency of the charges against Kocharyan under Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (overthrow of the constitutional order) with the Basic Law of the country.

“You are obliged to immediately terminate the criminal prosecution under Article 300.1 without discussion and without removal to the conference room. In accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court, there is no longer such an article in the Criminal Code, therefore, the court session should be closed, the criminal prosecution should be terminated. Continuing this session, the court is approaching the commission of a crime”, said Kocharyan's lawyer Hayk Alumyan.

Robert Kocharian was arrested in Yerevan in July 2018 after being charged with overthrowing the constitutional order in the case of the events of March 2008, when 10 people were killed and more than 250 were injured as a result of the suppression of protests organized by the current Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. On June 19, 2020, Kocharyan was released from custody on bail in the amount of about $4 million.