'Kocharyan's arrest is driven by geopolitical motives': Former Armenian president's team speaks out

JAMnews

Yerevan

Former president Robert Kocharyan’s team on his arrest

“President Kocharyan should be released because his detention is illegal, not at the request of President Putin,” opposition Armenia faction leader Anna Grigoryan said. In Armenia, people have spent recent days discussing whether the Russian president will ask for the release of Armenia’s former president, with whom he has friendly ties. Today, on Robert Kocharyan’s birthday, his allies and lawyer held a news conference. They said there were no legal grounds for his detention. Putin also congratulated Kocharyan, wishing him “strength in the face of adversity”.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have announced that Putin will meet Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Bishkek on 1 September. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the meeting would take place at a time “when opposition leaders are being arrested en masse in Armenia”.

Anna Grigoryan, who represents the faction led by Armenia’s former president, does not believe that Kocharyan’s detention should dominate the Pashinyan-Putin talks. She says the two sides should first resolve the crisis in bilateral relations to “avoid an economic collapse”. She hopes Russia will lift its restrictions on imports on Armenian food and goods, or at least refrain from introducing new restrictions.

At the same time, the opposition MP considers it natural and logical for Russia to discuss Kocharyan’s detention alongside other issues on the bilateral agenda. She notes that he is a “rational politician who supports maintaining good-neighbourly relations with Moscow”.

Former president’s lawyer Aram Orbelyan said both the criminal case against Kocharyan and the detention order were illegal.

“We have not yet received the detention order. As soon as we receive it, we will begin the appeal process,” he said.

Prosecutors have charged Kocharyan with abuse of office, accepting a particularly large bribe and money laundering. A court ordered the former president to spend two months in detention.

The lawyer argues that the alleged actions do not fall under the Criminal Code article cited in the detention order. He says the charges concern Kocharyan’s approval of certain government decisions while he served as president. According to Kocharyan’s defence, he had no choice but to approve them. The lawyer says the president’s office had no “tools, procedures or powers” to act otherwise.

Police detained Robert Kocharyan on 25 August. On the same day, law-enforcement officers searched companies belonging to the Kocharyan family and carried out other investigative measures. On 27 August, the Anti-Corruption Court granted the investigator’s request to detain Kocharyan. On 26 August, authorities also detained his eldest son, Sedrak Kocharyan, in the same case.

“Pashinyan is trying to minimise resistance”

Anna Grigoryan, head of the Armenia faction, believes that the case against Robert Kocharyan is not economic but political and even geopolitical. She says the fact that the issue will also come up at the Pashinyan-Putin meeting during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit supports this view:

“If Kocharyan’s arrest were purely an economic and domestic issue for our country, would it be discussed at such an important forum? We are indeed facing a serious political and geopolitical arrest.”

She does not believe Robert Kocharyan’s “neutralisation” is accidental. She has put forward her own explanation for what prompted his arrest. In particular, she believes the Armenian authorities are preparing to amend Armenia’s Constitution and intend to “hand over territories to Azerbaijan”. She believes Pashinyan is trying to achieve “minimal resistance” in this context.

The MP says the case should also be viewed in a broader context. She believes Armenia will eventually find itself at the centre of a “clash of interests between geopolitical centres”. She says a similar process in Ukraine led to territorial losses and a mass exodus:

“But in the end, Ukraine achieved nothing. The country is still neither an EU nor a NATO member. And it remains unclear whether it will join the EU in the future. The Armenian authorities talk about diversification and reducing dependence on Russia, but they are leading the country towards Turkish domination and hostile relations with Russia.”

Lawyer says there are no grounds for arrest

Lawyer Aram Orbelyan says neither the former president nor his son committed any unlawful acts:

“They cannot fully understand what they are being accused of or what role specific individuals played in the whole process. All the processes were lawful. There were no fictitious processes carried out in the names of other people.”

According to him, the actions described in the indictment relate to the former president only through the phrase “persons associated with him”.

The lawyer stresses that the law prohibits accusing one person of another person’s actions, especially restricting someone’s freedom when “the other person’s actions are lawful in themselves”.

Orbelyan also announced that the statute of limitations for the charges had expired. In such cases, he explained, a court does not order detention, except in exceptional circumstances.

“If they saw a need to detain him, why could they not impose house arrest? It is unclear who the former president could have influenced, and what influence he could have had, if he had remained free,” he said.

Details of the case presented by the Anti-Corruption Committee

According to the Anti-Corruption Committee, Kocharyan, while serving as president, acquired several valuable public assets together with a group of people linked to him. They bought the assets at prices significantly below market value. Investigators also found that he received large bribes in some of the deals.

“According to evidence gathered during the preliminary investigation, the property was registered in the names of affiliated companies to conceal the actual ownership and the criminal origin of the assets. The acquired property was later transferred through development and sales, transfers to third parties, and the transfer of company shares, including as gifts,” the Anti-Corruption Committee said.

Investigators are also examining transactions made in the former president’s son’s name between 2001 and 2019. The investigation covers money transfers totalling around 144 billion drams (more than $397 million at the current exchange rate), $309 million, €77 million and 18 million Russian roubles during that period. It also covers the acquisition of more than three dozen properties in Armenia and abroad.

The same investigation has also opened criminal cases against nine other people. They include former Defence Minister Serzh Sargsyan, former Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan and former Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglaryan.

In addition, the Prosecutor General’s Office has brought criminal cases against current and former directors of several local companies linked to Kocharyan. Authorities accuse them of failing to pay taxes on a particularly large scale. The total unpaid tax bill amounts to around 2.567 billion drams (more than $7 million).

Context

Opposition figures say Kocharyan’s arrest was politically motivated. They argue that the law-enforcement system is acting at the whim of a single person – the prime minister.

They also point to the heated parliamentary exchange between Nikol Pashinyan and Kocharyan’s son, Levon Kocharyan, an MP from the Armenia faction, which preceded Robert Kocharyan’s arrest.

“If the country’s prime minister says that this or that person should be sent to prison, or that this or that person should have their property confiscated, that is a political order. It is abnormal and goes against European standards, democracy and everything you fought for,” Kocharyan told Pashinyan.

The prime minister replied:

“Explain why you are a millionaire. Where did you get this property? And are you saying that you should remain a millionaire in Armenia? Are you saying that your millions should pass to your children and then from your children to their children? I’m sorry, but I’m telling you directly: that will not happen. For me, this is not a personal issue but a political one.”

Pashinyan said he had pledged to return to the people, “piece by piece”, all property that had been illegally plundered.

“In a democratic country, the court, not the country’s leader, should decide what should be returned to whom,” Levon Kocharyan replied.

Later, speaking to journalists, Pashinyan returned to the issue. He said that if Armenian citizens considered the government’s actions unlawful, they could stage a revolution.

“Let them remove us from power through a revolution. Let them bring their beloved and most honourable Robert Kocharyan, [former president] Serzh Sargsyan, [Russian businessman under house arrest on charges of calling for the seizure of power] Samvel Karapetyan, [major businessman arrested on charges of fraud, money laundering and extortion] Gagik Tsarukyan into government buildings. Let them take us to Republic Square and hang us. I’m fine with that scenario. If that is what they want, the people’s decision is not open to discussion for me,” the prime minister said.

Former president Robert Kocharyan’s team on his arrest