YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am) — A court in Yerevan on Friday extended by two months the pre-trial arrest of Robert Kocharyan regarded by the former Armenian president and his opposition Hayastan alliance as politically motivated.
Kocharyan was arrested on August 25 the day after his younger son Levon bitterly argued with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the Armenian parliament floor. His elder son Sedrak and the chief executives of four companies partly or fully owned by the latter were also taken into custody.
Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) claims that Kocharyan had abused his powers to let Sedrak acquire state-owned land for those businesses at cutdown prices during his 1998-2008 rule. It also accuses him of money laundering and bribery. Sedrak Kocharyan is accused of assisting in the alleged crimes strongly denied by him and his father.
The court backed ACC claims that they could obstruct the continuing investigation if set free now. Kocharyan’s lawyers continued to say that the investigators have failed to substantiate their accusations.
“If they have even a slight regard for the law, they should dismiss this case regardless of any political pressure,” one of them, Aram Orbelyan, told journalists.
