ArmInfo. In the case of the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, 9 complaints were sent to the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg Court). Lawyer Aram Orbelyan announced this on November 8 at a press conference.
As noted, at present, 5 or 6 of the submitted complaints have been registered, but they are not yet at the communication stage, that is, notification of a complaint from the respondent state. To recall, the Constitutional Court of Armenia appealed to the ECHR to provide an advisory opinion on the conformity of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia to Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. Under this article (Overthrow of the constitutional order), Robert Kocharyan is charged. The ECHR accepted the appeal of the Constitutional Court on October 2, and the Grand Chamber of the ECHR was formed on October 7.
Orbelyan expressed hope that regarding the advisory opinion of the ECHR, the decision will be made either at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2020. Speaking about the course of the trial, the lawyer made a number of comments regarding the current situation. In particular, restrictions on visits by Kocharyan, which Orbelyan called unfounded, were criticized. In addition, the discontent caused a large number of witnesses in the case - over 800, which could drag out the trial for years.
He also negatively assessed the judge's decision to refuse to satisfy the request to change Kocharyan's preventive measure from arrest to bail. Orbelyan recalled that the ex-president had previously been at liberty for 5 months, and during this period no facts had been revealed indicating his plans to hide from justice. Having promised that the team of lawyers would do everything possible to restore Kocharyan's right to freedom, Orbelyan voiced the opinion that there was clear pressure on the judicial system. Robert Kocharyan is being accused in the March 1, 2008 case.