Former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian urged Armenian authorities on Friday to release former President Robert Kocharian from custody pending investigation into the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan.
In a 30-minute video address posted on Facebook, Ohanian also reiterated his strong denial of coup charges that have also been leveled against him.
“I find totally wrong the treatment of the country’s second President Robert Kocharian, his being held in detention,” he said. “A person who voluntarily and repeatedly showed up for all investigative actions does not deserve such treatment. Such people never dodge responsibility.”
Ohanian argued that Armenia’s two other former presidents, Serzh Sarkisian and Levon Ter-Petrosian, have not been arrested or prosecuted even though they too were involved in the events of February-March 2008 in one way or another.
“I think that the second president is in unequal conditions,” he said. “They can free him and continue the investigation.”
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) has charged Kocharian, Ohanian and two other retired generals, Mikael Harutiunian and Yuri Khachaturov, with overthrowing the constitutional order in the wake of the February 2008 presidential election.
Harutiunian, who now lives in Russia, served as defense minister while Ohanian was the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff at the time. The latter replaced Harutiunian as defense minister in April 2008. None of the generals has been arrested so far.
The SIS claims that the four men illegally used the armed forces against Ter-Petrosian supporters who demonstrated in Yerevan against alleged electoral fraud. It says Kocharian ordered troops into the Armenian capital before declaring a state of emergency late on March 1, 2008 amid violent clashes between security forces and protesters. Eight protesters and two police servicemen died as a result.
The coup charges are based on a secret directive which Harutiunian issued to the military on February 23, 2008. SIS investigators say that the directive known as the Order No. 0038 led to the army’s illegal involvement in the political process.
In his video message, Ohanian again defended the legality of that order, saying that it was only meant to ensure that the army “maintains neutrality” in the dramatic post-election developments. He also said Kocharian was not aware of its details.
Kocharian’s lawyers make similar arguments. They say that Ter-Petrosian, who was the main opposition candidate in the 2008 ballot, tried to get the Armenian military to back the protests and that two deputy defense ministers sided with Ter-Petrosian. They both were sacked in April 2008.
Ohanian’s calls for Kocharian were dismissed by Seda Safarian, who was one of the two opposition members of a multi-partisan team formed by Serzh Sarkisian later in 2008 to conduct a supposedly independent inquiry into the bloodshed. Safarian said that the ex-president could obstruct justice if set free.