Oppositionist: If the Armenian authorities take the legal route, the case against Robert Kocharyan will "fall apart."

ArmInfo. If the Armenian government pursues the legal path, the so-called criminal case against Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan, will "fall apart." Sevak Khachatryan, a member of the Armenian parliament from the opposition Armenia faction, stated this at a press conference in Yerevan on September 23.

He is confident that the Armenian government's actions against its political opponents have nothing to do with establishing justice in the country. "If they pursue the legal path, the case will fall apart, just as the March 1, 2008 case (unrest that escalated into clashes with law enforcement - ed.) fell apart. No one expected Kocharyan to come, serve his time, fight, and ultimately win. We all saw how this case was ultimately closed and characterized as unconstitutional. "Now an attempt is being made to limit Robert Kocharyan's activities through another case," the MP believes.

In particular, he linked the arrest of Armenia's second president to the authorities' new anti-national agenda. In this regard, he recalled how, two days after the latest parliamentary elections in Armenia, Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev reminded the authorities of the agreement to amend the Armenian Constitution. Khachatryan noted that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan himself has made the same point, citing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's statement that "there will be no peace until amendments are made to the Armenian Constitution."

"That is, the arrest of Armenia's second president is also an attempt to neutralize any resistance." "Because it is Kocharyan who can ensure consolidation and counter the implementation of these anti-national programs," the opposition figure concluded.

As a reminder, on August 25, National Security Council officers conducted searches in the apartment of Levon Kocharyan, a member of the opposition Armenia faction and son of second president Robert Kocharyan, and in companies affiliated with the Kocharyan family. Robert Kocharyan and Sedrak Kocharyan were then detained and taken to the Anti-Corruption Committee for questioning. Robert Kocharyan was charged that same day with large-scale money laundering, abuse of office (in connection with the ratification of government decisions - ed.), and accepting a large bribe. Nine other individuals were also charged in the case. On August 27, the Anti-Corruption Court ordered Kocharyan's arrest for two months.

It should be added that the political forces of Armenia's second president associate his arrest with an attempt to neutralize one of the main opposition figures amid the Armenian government's readiness to make further concessions to Azerbaijan.