Armenian authorities failed to ‘pressure’ Constitutional Court into legitimizing Kocharyan criminal case – lawyer

The Armenian authorities’ long-lasting attempts to step up pressure on the Consitutional Court in an effort to justify the prosecution against Robert Kocharyan eventually failed, as the high court ruled on the “unconstitutionality” the penal code article accusing the second president of overthrowing the constitutional order, says a defense attorney in the criminal case.

Mihran Poghosyan, who represents the interests of Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov, a former secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) who served as the head of the Yerevan Garrison in the period of the March 1-2, 2008 deadly post electoral events, described the incumbent authorities’ actions as "absolutely groundlesss and illegtimate".

“Notwithstanding the current authorities’ attempts to exert pressure upon the Constitutional Court in an effort to usurp its powers, even its unconstitutionally appointed judges eventually arrived at the conclusion that the article in question runs counter to the Constitution,” he told Tert.am on Friday.

It comes after the high court declared Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code (usurping state power) unconstitutional, citing non-compliance with Articles 78 and 79 of the basic law (the Principle of Proportionality and the Principle of Certainty). The move relieves the former president of criminal accountability in the case accusing him of an "abuse of constitutional authority" during anti-government protests disputing the outcome of the February 2008 presidential election.

Poghosyan said he believes that it is "unquestionably clear to any lawyer" that the artcle in question was anti-constitutional in essence.

“The Constitutional Court ruled today that it doesn’t matter at all under whose rule its judges were appointed. If the function was unconstitutional, every lawyer, seeing the underlying basis behind the interepretations of the article, will get the understanding that it was blatantly – and fragrantly – anti-constitutional,” he said, adding that the ruling eventually put a “full stop” to the proceeding.