Armenian citizens block entrances to courts after prime minister issues public call for protests

The entrances to the courts of the Republic of Armenia have been closed since Monday morning after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made a public call on Sunday night for staging protests outside all the courts and the judicial bodies.

Pashinyan voiced his call in a post on Facebook, declaring the move as a campaign ''marking the start of the second stage of the Armenian revolution.''  He went live on Facebook on Sunday night, urging for peaceful public rallies.

''We are blocking the entrances and exits of all the courts without exception starting from 8:30 a.m. to prevent anyone from going inside. My speech will air live at 12:00,'' reads Pashinyan's post.

It comes after the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled to release second President Robert Kocharyan on bail in an open-door hearing on Saturday afternoon. Kocharyan, who held the post of Armenia's president from 1998 until 2008, is charged with overthrowing the country's constitutional order in the period of the 2008 post-electoral unrest. Ten people, including eight civilians and two police officers, died in the violent clashes disputing the outcome of the presidential election after Kocharyan, then the outgoign president, imposed a state of emergency to quell crowds of people from protest sites after days of peaceful rallies in central Yerevan.