On 12 March, the Anti-Corruption Court held a hearing on the confiscation of property of Robert Kocharyan and his affiliates.

The Department for Confiscation of Property of Illicit Origin of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia  filed a lawsuit against Robert Kocharyan and his wife Bella Kocharyan, daughter Gayane Kocharyan, her husband Vigen Chatinyan, two sons Levon and Sedrak Kocharyan, their wives singer Sirusho (Siranush Kocharyan) and Zaruhi Badalyan.

According to Iravaban.net, the representative of the General Prosecutor’s Office Gevorg Kocharyan, representatives of the defendant Aram Orbelyan, Artur Hovhannisyan, Harutyun Harutyunyan were present at the court session. The representative of “Nairi Insurance” was notified, but did not appear at the session.

It should be noted that the representatives of the responding party were against video recording and photography of the session. The court, chaired by Narine Avagyan, did not satisfy the journalists’ application.

Attorney Harutyun Harutyunyan interceded to ensure the use of the legally effective, court decision that was not appealed, by which the lien applied to the funds of the respondents, including Gayane Kocharyan, was eliminated, but under these conditions, the ban in the amount of 21 billion 491 million 190 thousand 853 was kept as collateral.

According to him, there is an obvious inconsistency in that case, and since the lien on the funds has been lifted, the lien on 2 billion drams, which was paid as bail, should also be lifted, including the decision of the court “while such decision does not exist in objective reality today”.

The attorney emphasized. “We applied to the enforcement service, from which we received a corresponding letter, it was attached to the case, that the ban on this amount was made based on the court’s decision. Therefore, we ask you to cancel the embargo in the amount of 21 billion 491 million 190 thousand 853 drams imposed by the decision of the Anti-Corruption Court on July 13 on the amount of 2 billion drams paid to the corresponding account.

Aram Orbelyan detailed on the submitted petition, saying that since the money is kept in the depository, the enforcement service assessed it not as Gayane Kocharyan’s money accounts, but as property, which is kept elsewhere, and for that reason, the lien was not removed from it. In this case, it is not about Gayen Kocharyan’s money accounts, but about the account in the depository, the property belonging to Gayane Kocharyan.

According to attorney Harutyun Harutyunyan, the previous petition was approved by the court, but Gayane Kocharyan’s money deposited in the deposit account was not included in it. “Initially, when we submitted the petition, we considered that this prohibition should be removed automatically, which did not happen.

This money should be returned to Gayane Kocharyan from the deposit account.”

Artur Hovhannisyan presented the decision of the enforcement service, issued on 25 August, 2023, to place a lien on the property, by which it was decided to place a lien in the amount of 21 billion 491 million 190 thousand 853 drams on the 2 billion drams paid by Gayane Kocharyan to the treasury specific deposit account for Robert Kocharyan within the framework of the criminal case, except for the part of the collateral not justified by legal income of 514.133,250 AMD.

According to the lawyer, this motion does not refer only to the money on the deposit account; it refers to the lien placed on all the remaining properties of Gayane Kocharyan in general.

Prosecutor Gevorg Kocharyan objected. “I ask the court to resolve this petition in the light of the motion to change the basis and subject of the claim submitted by me (but not discussed-ed.). Of course, they are different petitions, but they are interconnected to the extent that the claim, petition has been changed with the petition for the change of the basis and subject of the claim that I had submitted, and we are also asking to confiscate real and movable properties from Gayane Kocharyan and her husband, Vilen Chatinyan, and also added a monetary claim to this claim.”

In response, Harutyun Harutyunyan stated that the motion presented within the framework of the existing lawsuit cannot be discussed in the light of the still-to-be-discussed motion.

According to Gevorg Kocharyan, his petition to the court is not for their joint discussion, but separate discussion, but before making a decision, the court should also take into account the petition submitted by him. If the change of the basis and subject of the claim is satisfied, the issue of eliminating the applied security measures will also be resolved.

The prosecutor emphasized for the defendant side: “The petition I presented, my position is not aimed at some hypothetical, abstract things, that something may change tomorrow, the next day, it is about the petition presented at this moment, it is about the petition to be discussed at this session “.

The court announced that the judicial act will be published in accordance with the procedure and terms established by the law, and will be sent to the parties.

The court session was postponed; the next session was scheduled for 26 March.

Mariam Shahnazaryan