On 18 December, the Criminal Court of Appeal, presided by Judge Lusine Abgaryan, continues the examination of the case of refusing to change the measure of restraint of the second President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.

During the session Hayk Alumyan, the advocate of the second president of the Republic of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, filed a complaint against the decision of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan to consider the application of bail as inadmissible against Robert Kocharyan.

The defender questioned whether there were sufficient and relevant grounds for refusing the bail. Hayk Alumyan noted that the ECtHR in a number of its judgments expressed the view that a person convicted of a crime should always be released from pretrial detention; unless the State can show that there are reasonable and sufficient grounds to justify his continued detention.

“Our appeal concerns whether the first-instance court’s ruling, in the formulations available to all of us, can meet the criteria set by the European Court,” Hayk Alumyan said, stressing that the Court of Appeal cannot examine the issue of whether or not a bail should be applied in general or not.

The defense side has left the issue of the size of bail to the discretion of the court.

It should be reminded that on 7 November, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, presided by judge Anna Danibekyan, rejected the petition of Robert Kocharyan’s lawyers to recognize admissable the use of the bail as a measure of restraint.

Discussion of the appeal is completed. The court left the consultation room. The verdict of the Court of Appeal will be announced on December 20, at 4 pm.