Court dismisses Kocharyan's lawsuit against Pashinyan

The Armenian Civil Court of Appeal dismissed the lawsuit filed by Robert Kocharyan, the second President of Armenia, with a request to recognize the statements voiced by Nikol Pashinyan as defamation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 27, Robert Kocharyan was arrested on the charge of overthrowing the constitutional order in connection with the dispersal of protest actions held in Yerevan on March 1-2, 2008. On August 13, the court cancelled the decision on his arrest with reference to the immunity of the former president, but investigators forced him to sign recognizance not to leave. In late September, it became known that Robert Kocharyan filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in which he demanded to protect his honour and dignity from public defamation. The lawsuit was provoked by the statement about the illegality of the Robert Kocharyan's release, voiced by Nikol Pashinyan during his visit to France on September 14.

In court, Robert Kocharyan has demanded that Nikol Pashinyan should publicly apologize for the statements about the illegality of his release, reports the message posted today on the Robert Kocharyan's page in Facebook.

"It could be expected that the request would be dismissed against the background of the recent events in Armenia, since the independence of the court was called into question," wrote Robert Kocharyan in his message.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 17, 2018 at 05:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.