New Details on Levon Kocharyan's Case: 'Fact'

The newspaper 'Fact' reports that the public is becoming increasingly aware of the fabricated criminal case against Levon Kocharyan and his evidently illegal detention. However, even in this short period, a group of violations has already surfaced.

It is known that Levon Kocharyan has been in custody since September 22, 2023. The police even prepared a document stating that he was allegedly arrested at 11:55, but he was only informed of this late in the evening when an investigator visited him at the medical center. According to lawyers, this is an obvious violation.

Since September 25, Levon Kocharyan has been at the 'Nubarashen' penitentiary institution, under conditions where, despite suffering even moderate physical injury, he should have remained in a medical facility. However, law enforcement chose to ignore this as well, which constitutes a gross violation of human rights.

Even more noteworthy is the prosecutor's conduct. The prosecution, being an independent body from the investigative committee, is well aware of the existing video footage showing how the 'injured' police officers are effectively torturing Levon Kocharyan. They realize that these four police officers have not yet even been removed from duty and are involved in the Jhangiryan case. According to precedent, officers’ testimonies cannot serve as grounds for prosecuting individuals under similar circumstances, yet the prosecution has filed an appeal requiring Levon Kocharyan's detention to be extended to two months instead of one.

This same prosecutor's office has taken no action regarding the torture incident, which has also been recorded by the Human Rights Defender's office. Despite Levon Kocharyan holding a victim status in this case, none of the police officers involved have been detained. Lawyers assess this as a disregard for equality before the law and the necessity for an objective investigation.

Moreover, the process surrounding the appeals presented to the appellate criminal court has developed interestingly. On September 27, 2023, an appeal was submitted, which, according to rules, should have been sent to the appellate court within two days. However, another illegality occurred in Levon Kocharyan's case: the materials were sent to the court 8 days later, thus nullifying the right to appeal.

Additionally, the appeals have been deliberately assigned to Mher Arghamanyan by hand, whose son in 2019 demanded the detention of Robert Kocharyan, using both his personal Facebook page and participating in protests outside the courthouse with pre-prepared signs.