Robert Kocharyan’s arrest organized at pre-electoral period aimed at toughening pressures against political opponents: Republican party’s statement

The Republican Party of Armenia has released a statement relating to the arrest of Armenia’s second president Robert Kocharyan, saying that acting PM Nikol Pashinyan has personally organized the arrest during the pre-electoral period to strengthen the atmosphere of fear in the country, to show force and toughen the pressures against political opponents.

“To say that the decision has nothing to do with law, means to say nothing. To say that it is a clear political order, means to say nothing, to say that it is Nikol Pashinyan’s personal vendetta, is to say nothing,” the statement states, adding that the arrest has been organized by Pashinyan during the pre-electoral period to strengthen the atmosphere of fear in the country, to show force and toughen the pressures against political opponents.

“It is necessary to stress that Pashinyan continues violating all the possible norms of the Constitution and interferes into the activity of the judicial power through threats and other different ways. It is also obvious that the judicial power with all its instances has become appendage of executive power and carries out the order of the political ruling force,” the statement says.

The party says the most dangerous thing applied by current authorities is choosing arrest as a way to get testimonies. “The representatives of the authorities have many times at different occasions stated that  arrest should be applied as a preventive measure only in exclusive cases but many cases and this one too showed that these are only words, and the arrest serves not to its constitutional purpose but as a tool for blackmailing and receiving testimonies,” the statement says, drawing the attention of the international institutions and international observers on the circumstance.