ArmInfo. Armenia's imprisoned former president Robert Kocharyan told Reuters powerful opposition forces were coming together to challenge the ex-Soviet state's new leadership soon, and that he hoped to be among them.
Writing from the detention center where he is being held, Kocharyan told Reuters the charges against him were politically motivated, and accused Pashinyan's government of selectively applying the law to keep him in jail. Kocharyan said that new politicians and opposition parties were emerging in Armenia.
"This process will certainly lead to the creation of a powerful political force capable of challenging the authorities very soon," he said in written answers to questions sent by Reuters earlier this week. Asked if he would be personally involved in the emerging opposition, he replied: "Yes, of course."
But he did not give details about what form that involvement could take. Looking back at the mass protests last year that led to power change in the country, Kocharyan said they were caused by "accumulated discontent in the society and desire for change", but were not a revolution.
"I would not call it a revolution as fundamentally nothing has changed in the country, except for the appearance of a big share of aggression in the society, and populism and dilettantism in the leadership," he said in written answers to questions the Reuters had sent to him.