Amnesty International: When the court released Kocharyan, Pashinyan urged his supporters to block court buildings

According to News.am, the human rights organization Amnesty International published 2019 Human Rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia report.

In 2019 threats to the international system of human rights protection worsened. In 2019 threats to the international system of human rights protection worsened.

Judicial systems in countries as diverse as Moldova and Armenia were vulnerable to political pressure, the report noted.

As of Armenia, the report notes that amid concern over the executive’s possible pressure on the judiciary, arrests and criminal prosecutions of former senior government officials accused of abuse of power have taken place.

"Former President Robert Kocharyan was arrested for the third time on 25 June 2019, after being charged in 2018 with “overthrowing the constitutional order” and bribe-taking. The prosecution argued that the former President had been responsible for the violent dispersal, resulting in 10 deaths, of the March 2008 protests against what the then- opposition believed to be fraudulent elections. Robert Kocharyan denounced the charges as unfounded and politically motivated and accused the government of undue pressure on the judiciary," the report noted.

When the court released Robert Kocharyan on bail in May 2019, PM Nikol Pashinyan had called for a comprehensive reform of the judiciary, publicly criticized the judges for the decision to release him and urged his supporters to block court buildings, report noted. "Other former high-level government officials also faced prosecution in connection with the violent dispersal of the March 2008 protests and other alleged instances of abuses of power; proceedings were ongoing at the end of the year."

18.04.2020 09:24