Kocharyan’s attorneys to file second appeal with European court

The defense team representing Robert Kocharyan in the "March 1 2008 criminal case" is going to file a new appeal with the European Court of Human Rights, citing political persecutions.

“The second appeal, which is still under elaboration, is highly likely to contain the element of 'political prisoner'. A number of international organizations, including the Council of Europe, have the outlined concept of “political prisoner”, and Kocharyan, obviously. falls under this definition,” one of the lawyers, Aram Orbelyan, told reporters on Wednesday.

The Yerevan Court of First Instance on Wednesday opened a hearing to consider the extension of the second president's arrest for another two months or his possible release on bail. Orbelyan said that the second motion, submitted by Special Investigative Service, was not considered at all "as its satisfaction would render groundless the earlier motion for prolonging the arrest".

Kocharyan is charged with breaching Armenia's constitutional in the period of the violent post-electoral protests disputing the outcome of the February 2008 presidential elections.  An estimated ten people, including two policemen, died in heavy clashes in central Yerevan after Kocharyan, then the outgoing president, issued an order to declare a state of emergency.

The domestic courts are not considering the clause of political persecutions for now, focusing instead on the legal instruments as a mechanism “to fight the existing violations”, the former president’s lawyer said.

Orbelyan added they are considering the case with both Armenian and international lawyers - including French and Russian doctors of law - and international legal organizations,. to clarify the existing positions.

Kocharyan's defense team last Wednesday lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court, insisting on procedural violations in the criminal case.