ArmInfo.For the second time in 24 hours, the court in Yerevan rejected the petition of the attorneys of the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, to recuse the judge.
Today, the early side of the defense of Robert Kocharyan filed a motion to recuse Judge Artur Mkrtchyan for the second time. Kocharyan's team of lawyers considered that the rationale for appointing Mkrtchyan a judge in this case was insufficient.
According to the lawyer of former President Hayk Alumyan, the petition was rejected on the grounds that the chairman of the court had the right to entrust the consideration of the case to one of the duty judges. "For us, this justification is unacceptable, but we cannot do anything, and are forced to continue consideration together," said Alumyan. A break was announced at the meeting, it will continue at 2:30pm.
As Alumian stressed, Kocharyan's defense insists that the discussion should begin with consideration of the issue of pledge. If the petition for release of Kocharyan on bail is accepted, the second issuew related to the petition of the investigator to extend the term of the arrest of the former president will disappear.
To note today, the defense of the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, filed a petition to recuse Judge Artur Mkrtchyan for the second time. Kocharyan's team of lawyers considered that the rationale for appointing Mkrtchyan a judge in this case was insufficient. As the lawyer of the former president Aram Orbelyan told reporters, the court should specify - according to which article of a specific legislative act it was decided to appoint Artur Mkrtchyan to be a judge. "The matter is that of the 8 judges on duty on New Year's holidays, it is not clear by what principle this particular judge was elected," he explained. As Orbelyan recalled, according to the Judicial Code, there is a certain procedure for selecting a judge through the electronic system, which was violated, and the judge was elected only on the basis of the decision of the chairman of the court. Such a discretionary decision, according to the lawyer contradicts to the law. "Our demand-request is that the case be considered by a court, formed on the basis of the requirements of the law," he said. However, he said that the defense is not trying to artificially delay the process. The lawyers hope that if the judge is recused, the case will immediately be referred to another judge and the court session will continue throughout the day. The prosecutor's office again opposed this recusal. The court retired to the deliberation room for a decision.
The decision was justified by the fact that lawyer Aram Orbelyan's connections with the family of the judge were not so close that they could somehow influence the court decision. It should be noted that the court of first instance in Yerevan is to simultaneously consider two petitions filed by the defense and the prosecution: on the use of an alternative preventive measure against Kocharyan - release on bail - and the extension of his arrest for two months. Earlier, the Special Investigation Service (SIS) sent a petition to the court of general jurisdiction of Yerevan to extend the term of arrest of the second president Robert Kocharyan for two months. At the same time, Kocharyan's defense submitted a petition to the Special Investigation Service to stop the prosecution. Lawyers believe that Kocharyan cannot be accused under the article "overthrow of the constitutional system" in the case of the events of 2008, because at that time there was no crime in the Armenian Criminal Code in this article or in the crime it provided.