Any Honorable Judge in the World Would Release R. Kocharyan, Says Sevak Torosyan

At the end of this session, any honorable judge in the world would release Robert Kocharyan. This was stated by Sevak Torosyan, the French lawyer of Armenia's second president Robert Kocharyan, in an interview with yerevan.today, referring to the trial of Robert Kocharyan and others on May 8.

“The guarantee of four former prime ministers is a historic event. I don’t think anything like this has happened in any country in the world. This simply shows how far we have come in Armenia. There cannot be a higher guarantee than these assurances. If the judge does not accept these guarantees, it means that the judge has completely lost his mental freedom,” emphasized the French-Armenian lawyer.

According to him, moral guarantees are at a different level in countries where judges ignore clear legal arguments: “History must remember, and generations must be ashamed.”

Sevak Torosyan stated that due to the pandemic, “not being able to participate in that historic session was torture” for him, but “at the same time, we can appreciate the powerful defense action.” He noted that everything that needed to be said was said.

“The lawyer is not only the defender of his client but also of public freedoms, and this session was entirely dedicated to the highest principle of freedom. I sincerely wished that the only concern of the prosecution would be the quality of the facts, but until today, watching from afar, we do not feel that concern. During the investigation, instead of the quality of the facts, they presented the quantity, and 80 volumes of low-quality evidence can only weary all parties, including the court,” he added.

According to Sevak Torosyan, if the judge is willing to change the measure of restraint, there are three options in his mind: “Health-related, moral, and the presumption of innocence. The health-related one is the easiest for the judge. This is related to the coronavirus: based on a UN recommendation, people over 60 and those who have health issues should have been released. This is the case with Robert Kocharyan. By choosing this option, the judge will free himself from his future criminal liability. The second option is for the court to become wise by recognizing the power of the highest guarantees. And with the third option, the presumption of innocence, the judge will become a true judge. He will establish the pillars of the rule of law and will declare Armenia as a country of human rights.”