A spokesman for Robert Kocharian said on Wednesday that 41 parliament deputies mainly representing the former Republican Party (HHK) have appealed to law-enforcement and judicial authorities to release Armenia’s former president from custody.
Victor Soghomonian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that they have guaranteed in writing that Kocharian, who is facing coup charges, will not flee prosecution if set free.
“Most of them are deputies from the Republican Party,” he said. “But the process is not yet over. The petition is open to more signatures.”
In Soghomonian’s words, the signatories include parliament speaker Ara Babloyan and his two deputies, Eduard Sharmazanov and Arpine Hovannisian, as well as lawmakers not affiliated with the HHK. He declined to name them. The Armenian parliament has 105 members.
Soghomonian also said that Kocharian’s lawyers will attach the petition to their upcoming appeal against a Yerevan district court’s decision on July 27 to allow the ex-president’s pre-trial arrest. The document will also be sent to Armenia’s Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian, he added.
Kocharian was arrested one day after being charged with an “overthrow of the constitutional order” in the wake of a disputed presidential election held two months before the end of his decade-long rule in April 2008. He rejects the charges, saying they are part of a political “vendetta” waged against him by Armenia’s new government.
Levon Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition candidate in the February 2008 election, staged daily demonstrations at the time to demand a rerun of the ballot. Security forces broke up those protests on March 1-2, 2008. Eight protesters and two police personnel died as a result.
The HHK, whose leader Serzh Sarkisian succeeded Kocharian as president of the republic, has condemned the criminal case against the ex-president as politically motivated.
Another major party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) has similarly expressed serious concern over Kocharian’s prosecution. Dashnaktsutyun was allied to Kocharian during his presidency and is now represented in the current Armenian government.
By contrast, Kocharian’s arrest has been hailed as a triumph of justice by political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Ter-Petrosian, some human rights activists and relatives of protesters killed in the post-election violence. They have for years accused the Sarkisian administration of covering up the killings.