Armenian Court Drops Vote-rigging Charges Against Ex-leader

Faizan Hashmi Published March 26, 2021 | 11:22 PM

A court in Armenia Friday dropped election-rigging charges against former President Robert Kocharyan, accused of swaying a vote in 2008 to help an ally

Yerevan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Mar, 2021 ):A court in Armenia Friday dropped election-rigging charges against former President Robert Kocharyan, accused of swaying a vote in 2008 to help an ally.

Kocharyan, 66, was arrested in 2018 on charges of "overthrowing the constitutional order" and helping Serzh Sarkisian win the ballot.

The constitutional court ruled Friday that the article under which Kocharyan was charged "contradicted the country's constitution".

"The ruling is final and can't be appealed," court chair Arman Dilanyan said.

Kocharyan's lawyer, Aram Vardevanyan, told journalists that the verdict "upheld a constitutional norm which forbids a head of state's prosecution for acts performed while in office".

Vardevanyan said the ruling means charges against Kocharyan are to be dropped.

Kocharyan has lent his voice to recent criticism of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for agreeing a ceasefire in November with Azerbaijan that ended six weeks of fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The clashes erupted in September, claiming the lives of some 6,000 people.

The Russian-mediated ceasefire saw Yerevan cede swathes of territory to Baku in what was seen in Armenia as a national humiliation.

The agreement sparked a protracted protest movement demanding Pashinyan's resignation.

Kocharyan last week announced he planned to run in snap parliamentary elections that Pashinyan called to calm protests.

Kocharyan led the ex-Soviet nation for a decade up to 2008, when Sarkisian was elected to succeed him.

He denounced the charges against him as politically motivated.

Violent clashes erupted after the 2008 vote between riot police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate, who denounced the vote as fraudulent.

Ten people including two police officers were killed.

Kocharyan was first arrested in July 2018 and placed in pre-trial detention, before being freed and re-arrested again several times. He was last released on bail of $4.15 million in June.