Radio Azatutyun. Former President Robert Kocharian dropped a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday after receiving an important clarification from the latter’s lawyer.
Pashinian was taken to court after scoffing recently at Kocharian’s claims that the Armenian constitution guarantees his immunity from prosecution on charges stemming from the March 2008 unrest in Yerevan.
“What does that immunity mean?” the prime minister asked during a visit to France. “Does it mean that one can organize killings and say ‘I’m immune?’ Where is that written?”
Kocharian denounced that remark as slanderous, demanding a public apology from his bitter political foe.
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Speaking at the start of court hearings on the lawsuit, his lawyer, Hayk Alumian, said the ex-president is ready to withdraw the lawsuit if Pashinian states through his attorneys that he “did not mean Mr. Kocharian.”
Pashinian’s lawyer, Gevorg Gyozalian, did just that. Gyozalian said his client’s remark was an interpretation of the legal provisions on immunity from prosecution and it “definitely did not apply to Mr. Kocharian.” Pashinian simply asked “rhetorical questions,” he said.
“We are satisfied with the statement to the effect that by saying that Mr. Pashinian did not refer to Mr. Kocharian,” Alumian told reporters.
Kocharian was indicted and arrested last year in connection with the post-election violence of March 1-2, 2008, which left eight opposition protesters and two policemen dead. The clashes broke out one month before he completed his final presidential term and handed over power to his preferred successor, Serzh Sarkisian.
Article 140 of the constitution says: “During the term of his or her powers and thereafter, the President of the Republic may not be prosecuted and subjected to liability for actions deriving from his or her status.”
Law-enforcement authorities say that this clause does not apply to Kocharian because his actions in February-March 2008 were illegal. The ex-president and his lawyers claim the opposite.
A Yerevan district court judge, Davit Grigorian, essentially sided with them after he ordered Kocharian released from jail on May 18. He also suspended Kocharian’s trial, asking the Constitutional Court to rule on a “suspicion of discrepancy” between three articles of the constitution and prosecutors’ claims that Kocharian illegally seized power in February-March 2008.
The prosecutors appealed against Grigorian’s decisions. Armenia’s Court of Appeals started hearings on the matter on Wednesday.
Kocharian’s legal team protested against the fact that the same high court judge, Armen Danielian, was assigned to deal with both appeals, alleging possible foul play. It also claimed that Danielian is notorious for siding with law-enforcement bodies and must therefore recuse himself from the case.
The prosecution objected to the demand. Danielian is due to respond to it on Friday.
Foto – Radio Azatutyun