What Decision Did Levon Kocharian Make? Will He Become an MP?

“Tomorrow, on November 6, Levon Kocharian will obtain parliamentary status and his nearly two-month illegal detention will be subject to annulment,” states Alexander Kochubaev in a Facebook post, sharing a statement from the legal team.

“On November 3, 2023, it became clear that three candidates for the ‘Armenia’ alliance electoral list—Mihirdat Madatyan, Angela Nalbandyan, and Gerasim Vardanyan—had submitted applications to the CEC withdrawing their candidacies. Based on this, according to the Constitutional Law on the ‘Electoral Code,’ the next candidate from the first part of the electoral list is Levon Kocharian, who has been unlawfully detained for nearly two months and has the procedural status of a victim due to the torture inflicted by police officers.

The Central Electoral Commission meeting, during which Levon Kocharian will receive his MP mandate, is set to take place on November 6, 2023. Therefore, once Levon Kocharian obtains parliamentary status on November 6, he cannot be kept in detention.

We also inform you that due to parliamentary immunity, even the annulment of illegal detention does not lead to the cessation of criminal prosecution. Thus, in the near future, we will more actively present this as false information in the criminal case, as well as provide additional objective data and evident grounds for ceasing criminal prosecution. Throughout this entire period, we will continue to demand that necessary procedural actions be taken and will show the public the complete absence of due diligence in this regard,” the legal team’s statement reads.