Armenia’s second president, Robert Kocharyan, and his eldest son, Sedrak Kocharyan, were arrested on Tuesday, August 25, as part of a criminal proceeding being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Committee, the committee confirmed, a day after a parliamentary exchange between Kocharyan’s other son, opposition lawmaker Levon Kocharyan, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The arrests followed searches at several dozen addresses tied to the former president and his family. The committee said investigative actions were carried out at the Orange Fitness club, the Play City entertainment center, and the apartments of their directors, and that searches took place at the homes of Robert and Levon Kocharyan. Tax authorities sealed the Yerevan office of a Toyota company. The committee said the actions were part of a corruption investigation but has yet to disclose the specific charges against Kocharyan and his son or the case they stem from.
According to circulating reports, the businesses are linked to the Kocharyan family, Sedrak Kocharyan is a shareholder in the Toyota company, and officers also entered Pregomesh, a company associated with the wife of Levon Kocharyan, the singer Sirusho. These details have not been officially confirmed.
Levon Kocharyan, a member of the opposition Armenia Alliance and one of Pashinyan’s most vocal critics in parliament, was not arrested and retains immunity as a sitting lawmaker. As of Tuesday, no court had ruled on pre-trial detention for Robert or Sedrak Kocharyan, and the situation was still developing.
Bagrat Mikoyan, the head of Kocharyan’s office, called the operation another government “attack” on the former president and his family. Armenia Alliance lawmaker Mesrop Manukyan said officers entered Levon Kocharyan’s home at around 7 a.m. and tied the operation to the previous day’s confrontation in parliament, saying “the instruction comes directly from the parliamentary rostrum.” The Anti-Corruption Committee has not said its actions were connected to the exchange.
The Parliament Clash
The arrests came the morning after a tense exchange on Monday between Levon Kocharyan and Pashinyan during a question-and-answer session on the government’s program. Kocharyan accused the prime minister of pressuring courts and investigators, arguing that the head of government should not publicly decide who is imprisoned or stripped of assets. “If the country’s prime minister says this person should go to prison and that person should be deprived of their property, that is a political order,” he said. “This is not normal. It contradicts European standards and democracy.”
Pashinyan responded by questioning the origins of the family’s wealth. “Why are you a millionaire? How did you become a millionaire? How did your family become millionaires?” he said, adding that assets he described as 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.” He closed by invoking the New Testament line “Judge not, that you be not judged,” before adding: “Yes, I am judging you, and I will judge you, and I am ready to be judged by the same standard.”
During the same session, Pashinyan raised the assets of former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan and called on law enforcement and judicial authorities to act to recover property he said belonged to the state.
Background
Kocharyan served as Armenia’s president from 1998 to 2008 and heads the Armenia Alliance, which finished third in the June 7 parliamentary election and was allotted 12 seats. The alliance was among the forces that challenged the results at the Constitutional Court, which did not overturn them. In June, the Central Electoral Commission lifted his immunity as a candidate at prosecutors’ request, opening the way for a criminal case tied to his family’s business holdings.
Authorities have pursued several opposition figures since the election. In recent weeks they detained Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan on fraud and money laundering charges and brought cases against his family and companies, after Pashinyan’s campaign vow to strip his rivals, whom he branded the “three-headed party of war,” of their property. Kocharyan’s office says the case is political; the government says he must return wealth taken from the state.
Under Armenia’s Criminal Procedure Code, a person charged with a criminal offense is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a final court verdict.
This is a developing story, follow @ZartonkMedia for the latest updates.
