“Zhoghovurd” comments on Robert Kocharian’s political comeback which the former Armenian president announced on Thursday. “But he left the most important question unanswered: by means of which party is he going to return to politics?” writes the paper. It argues that Armenia is now a parliamentary republic where political figures cannot vie for power on their own and need to lead or be part of parties or alliances.
Lragir.am says that in his interview with the Yerkir Media TV station Kocharian also accused the new authorities are of discrediting the Armenian military by implicating it in his 2008 crackdown on opposition protesters in Yerevan. “Robert Kocharian associates himself with the army and he obviously does not do so unintentionally,” writes the online publication. “The thing is that the new authorities do not discredit the army at all. They just accuse Robert Kocharian of drawing the army into political processes contrary to the constitution. Whether or not that accusation is substantiated is a different question.” Only courts can determine whether that is true, it says.
Valeri Poghosian, a former member of Armenia’s Constitutional Court, tells “Hraparak” that he does not think that the court has the authority to rule on whether Kocharian can be prosecuted for the 2008 bloodshed. “The Constitutional Court’s jurisdiction does not include such issues,” says Poghosian. “It’s the Court of Cassation has final say on such issues in the Republic of Armenia. The Constitutional Court’s main job has to do with laws. Namely, does a law conform to the constitution or not?”
(Tigran Avetisian)