They were indicted shortly after the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought Nikol Pashinian to power. Kocharian was charged with receiving a hefty kickback from a businesswoman at the end of his 1998-2008 presidency, while Sarkisian stands accused of illegally granting a lucrative government contract to a longtime friend.
Both ex-presidents, who now lead major opposition groups, strongly deny the accusations, saying that they are part of a political vendetta waged against them by Pashinian. Their trials have being going on for years.
Lawyers for Kocharian and Sarkisian confirmed that the Armenian statute of limitations for the charges leveled against their clients has expired. This means that the latter can now cut short their trials and avoid prison sentences without being acquitted by courts. They will not go to jail even if they refuse to plea the statute of limitations.
“Such a thing cannot be discussed. We are fighting only for a not-guilty verdict,” Ruben Hakobian, one of Sarkisian’s lawyers, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. Hakobian said that the judge presiding over Sarkisian’s trial has not offered him such a settlement because he knows that the ex-president will reject it.
Hayk Alumian, a key member of Kocharian’s legal team, suggested that his client will hardly settle for anything less than acquittal.
“My impression until now has been that the choice of that [statute of limitation] option is very unlikely,” said Alumian.
The high-profile trials are therefore expected to continue in the months ahead. They could drag on further following the recent resignations of the trial prosecutors in both cases. The reasons for the resignations are not yet known.
Sarkisian’s trial was adjourned on Thursday after the presiding judge gave the new prosecutor one month to familiarize himself with details of the criminal case.