Robert Kocharyan Will Not Be Released on Bail

The Yerevan court of general jurisdiction denied the motions of former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan's defense team to choose bail as a preventive measure instead of imprisonment or other measures unrelated to imprisonment. The amount of bail was left to the discretion of the court.

It is important to note the path this criminal case has taken so far. Robert Kocharyan is charged under Article 300.1, Part 1, and Article 311, Part 4, Clause 2 of the Armenian Criminal Code with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and receiving a substantial bribe. The second president has been detained three times. He was last detained on June 25, when the Appellate Criminal Court, presided over by Armen Hamlet Danielyan, decided to detain Robert Kocharyan, who had been released on personal guarantees by the former and current presidents of Artsakh, and reversed the decision of First Instance Court judge Davit Grigoryan to suspend the proceedings against him, Yuri Khachaturov, Seyran Ohanyan, and Armen Gevorgyan, sending the case for a new hearing.

On July 8, the Constitutional Court made a decision regarding the request of Robert Kocharyan and the judge of the first instance court on the Munich case, Davit Grigoryan, rejecting two of the three inquiries and accepting for consideration one regarding the compliance of Article 300.1, Part 1 of the Criminal Code (overthrowing the constitutional order) with the Constitution.

Kocharyan's defenders believe that this decision requires his immediate release from detention. Meanwhile, the prosecution argues that the Constitutional Court's decision does not provide such grounds.