Prosecutor's Office Forced to Prevent the Dissemination of Fabrications Generated by Certain Media Outlets

Unfounded accusations have been directed at the Prosecutor's Office, ridiculous comments have been made regarding the participation of the Prosecutor General in court sessions, and subjective interpretations have been applied to the statements made by the Prosecutor General and other prosecutors involved in the proceedings. Fragments of videos have been released that were taken out of context and have not yet been carefully examined in conjunction with the evidence available. This is stated in the response from the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia.

“During a press conference held today, the lawyers of the accused Robert Kocharian addressed the positions expressed by the prosecutors during the previous days regarding Kocharian's bail, essentially continuing the defensive strategy previously adopted by the defense side. They have tried to manipulate public sentiment through various manipulative techniques, distorting and misrepresenting the facts outside the judicial process, perhaps in an attempt to obscure the reality that they were unable to substantiate their arguments in front of the court for three days in a row,” the statement reads.

In particular, unfounded accusations have been directed at the Prosecutor's Office, absurd comments have been made regarding the Prosecutor General's participation in court sessions, and subjective interpretations have been applied to the statements made by the Prosecutor General and other prosecutors involved in the trial. By publicly releasing these fragmented video clips under the current circumstances, an opportunity has arisen for misinformation to spread, turning the defenders’ right to use all possible legal means into a planned operation to mislead the public through falsehoods and manipulations.

We are forced to state that such a generalizable behavior cannot be characterized in any other way than as an unacceptable conduct aimed at taking the process out of legal frameworks and into the realm of emotionality, which, apart from undermining the judicial process, is fraught with the highly dangerous consequence of inflaming public sentiment. These are merely forms of exercising psychological and informational pressure on the court.

We are compelled to repeat and remind all participants in the trial that were present in the courtroom the call made by the Prosecutor General for the necessity of displaying correctness throughout the judicial examination and keeping the process strictly within legal channels.

The Prosecutor's Office will not succumb to the mechanisms of such pressures or to the concealed objectives of bringing any discourse outside the legal process. The prosecutors will continue the unwavering fulfillment of their duties within the framework of law and legality.

However, in the event that this trajectory of seemingly organizing a defense through the distortion of public opinion continues, the prosecution will be forced to take measures to prevent the dissemination and manipulation of this fabricated content generated by certain media outlets and fake or real users on social networks, and ensure the public is provided with objective information, remaining committed to upholding the letter of the law,” the Prosecutor's Office statement concludes.