Former President Kocharyan put in pretrial detention one day after son

By Siranush Adamyan

A court in Yerevan ordered former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan held in pretrial detention early on Thursday, one day after his elder son was also jailed in a corruption investigation targeting the former president and people linked to his family.

The Anti-Corruption Court fully granted an investigator’s request to detain Kocharyan after a hearing that began on Wednesday evening, Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee said. The case was heard by Judge Sargis Dadoyan.

Kocharyan was arrested on Aug. 25, when law enforcement officers also searched properties and businesses linked to his family. A day later, a court ordered his elder son, Sedrak Kocharyan, held for two months. Sedrak, unlike his younger brother Levon Kocharyan, an opposition member of parliament, has not been involved in politics.

Sedrak Kocharyan’s lawyer described his detention as an “extra-legal prosecution” with a political context.

The arrests followed a heated exchange in parliament on Monday between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Levon Kocharyan, an MP from the opposition Armenia Alliance.

Levon Kocharyan accused Pashinyan of exerting political pressure on courts and investigative bodies, saying a prime minister should not decide publicly who should be imprisoned or stripped of property.

Pashinyan responded by questioning how the Kocharyan family had accumulated its wealth.

“Why are you a millionaire? How did you become a millionaire? How did your family become millionaires?” Pashinyan said.

He went on to say that property acquired at the public’s expense should be returned to the state.

“You will have to return everything, piece by piece, to the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan said. “And yes, that is my political mission, my demand and the responsibility I have undertaken before the people.”

The following morning, law enforcement officers searched Levon Kocharyan’s home, took Robert Kocharyan to the Anti-Corruption Committee and launched investigative actions at several businesses linked to the family. Kocharyan’s political allies have since argued that the investigation is being carried out on Pashinyan’s direct instructions. The authorities have not said that their actions were ordered by the prime minister.

Corruption allegations

The Anti-Corruption Committee says investigators have obtained evidence indicating that Kocharyan, while serving as president, used his official position to remove valuable properties from state ownership and acquire them at prices significantly below market value.

Investigators have also alleged episodes involving bribery and the subsequent registration of property and company shares in the names of members of Kocharyan’s family.

The Prosecutor General’s Office has launched criminal proceedings against Kocharyan on charges including abuse of official authority, receiving particularly large bribes and money laundering. Kocharyan and his allies have rejected the case as politically motivated.