Aram Vardevanyan, defender of the second president of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, filed a motion of withdrawal to judge Lusine Abgaryan, presiding over today’s session of the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Vardevanyan mentioned information from media about the judge’s brother David Abgaryan as a reason to withdraw. In particular, David Abgaryan liked and shared the post of singer Serj Tankian on his Facebook page, where he expressed satisfaction with the arrest of Robert Kocharyan, while Lusine Abgaryan liked the post.

Another circumstance: according to the information from the “Holidays” section of the court.am website, Lusine Abgaryan has to go on vacation on 17 December. And, a case cannot be assigned to the judge 10 days before the vacation, because in that short time the case cannot be examined in substance. In response, Lusine Abgaryan noted that her vacation had been postponed to 24 December.

The prosecution considered the facts and circumstances presented as unfounded, noting that they could not cast doubt on the judge’s bias.

Defender Vardevanyan responded that days ago prosecutors filed a motion to withdraw another judge of the Court of Appeal, Mkhitar Papoyan, because of the post on that same Facebook social network. As a result, that record caused Judge Papoyan’s withdrawal.

After considering the self-withdrawal motion, the court left to the consultation room. The verdict will be announced on 18 December at 14:00.