Anticorruption Court continues hearing Kocharyan and others case 

ArmInfo.  The criminal case against second President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and others continued in the Anti-Corruption Court of Armenia, chaired by Judge Sarkis Petrosyan.

Earlier, the judge stated that, in accordance with legislative  amendments and a received circular, hearings would be held more  frequently, at least once a week. In response, the defense, including  Robert Kocharyan, as well as the defendants in the case, viewed this  circular as pressure on the court. The second president, in  particular, pointed out that even artificial intelligence had found  no precedent for the ongoing absurdity. A dispute ensued between the  judge and Kocharyan over the trial's timeline. The former president  claimed that a plan had been imposed on the courts, a circular had  been issued, the main purpose of which was to arrest him. The judge  objected, noting that no one could "issue" any plans; timelines were  established by law. In turn, Mihran Poghosyan, the lawyer for former  Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, Yuri Khachaturov,  noted that all the deadlines for the case were violated from the very  beginning, and the baseless trial has been dragging on for seven  years. In response, the judge stated that at the current pace, the  trial would continue for another seven years. Meanwhile, Armen  Gevorgyan, former Deputy Prime Minister and current Member of the RA  National Assembly from the opposition "Armenia" faction, pointed to  the political subtext of the situation and suggested that attempts  are being made to rush the trial given the upcoming national  elections. "This is a political show; they're foisting this case on  you, saying we made it up, so let the judge worry about it now,"  Gevorgyan stated, adding that such a lengthy discussion about the  deadline suggests that a decision has already been made and the rest  is merely a formality. Overall, the MP views the trial as a political  show, not a matter of justice.

The judge mentioned the possibility of filing a challenge. He also  emphasized that it would be impossible to fit this trial within the  framework of a standard criminal case. The judge reiterated that a  reasonable timeframe would require holding hearings at least once a  week.

As a reminder, the criminal prosecution against the defendants in  this high-profile case was dropped following a Constitutional Court  ruling that the article under which the defendants were charged was  unconstitutional. The ruling was appealed, and the case was  transferred to the Anti-Corruption Court, which is currently  considering the prosecution's motion to bring new charges.