Robert Kocharyan

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Levon Kocharyan at a protest demanding the government's resignation in May 2022. Photo via Levon Kocharyan/Telegram

Armenia

Kocharyan’s son appointed MP in bid to secure release

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•1 min read

The son of former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan has been appointed an MP in a bid by the opposition to secure legal immunity and his release from pre-trial detention. Levon Kocharyan was detained on 22 September and charged with attacking police officers during a protest calling for the government to resign in the wake of Azerbaijan’s attack on Nagorno-Karabakh. He was hospitalised later that day with a concussion which his lawyer attributed to his being ‘severely beaten’ by police.

Police detaining a protester in Yerevan. Photo: Narek Aleksanyan/Hetq

Armenia

Police violence at protests in Yerevan calling for government to resign

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•3 min read

Amidst reports of police brutality against protesters demanding the Armenian government’s resignation in the wake of Azerbaijan’s attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, government-affiliated media has maligned Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians taking part in the protests. Thousands of people have joined protests in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, after the Azerbaijani offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh began on Tuesday. Since Nagorno-Karabakh’s surrender on Wednesday, protesters are demanding that the Armenian

Nikol Pashinyan. Photo: Ani Avetisyan/OC Media.

Armenia

Armenian PM wins case against Armenia in Strasbourg court

by Ani Avetisyan

•2 min read

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has won a case against the Armenian state in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over his imprisonment a decade before coming to power. Pashinyan sued Armenia in 2010 over his arrest and conviction following the deadly 2008 crackdown on anti-government protesters. Pashinyan’s government, as the respondent in the case, did not comment before the court on the allegations brought against it by the prime minister. In an 18 January judgement, the E

Robert Kocharyan. Photo: Ani Avetisyan/OC Media.

2021 Armenian Parliamentary Elections

Robert Kocharyan refuses to sit as MP in Armenia’s parliament

by Ani Avetisyan

•2 min read

Robert Kocharyan, leader of Armenia’s largest opposition coalition and the country’s second president, has announced that he will not sit as an MP in Armenia’s parliament. The leader of the Armenia Alliance wrote about his decision in a Facebook post on Monday, stressing that he had previously been a member of the parliaments of both Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia but ‘by virtue’ of his character he has ‘always been a person of executive power’. ‘By this step, I also express my consent with m

The Constitutional Court of Armenia. Photo: Ben Men Lyun/Wikimedia Commons.

2021 Armenian Parliamentary Elections

Armenian Constitutional Court dismisses appeals by Kocharyan upholding election results

by Ani Avetisyan

•3 min read

Armenia’s Constitutional court has denied the opposition’s request to annul the results of the 20 June snap parliamentary elections, following a week of deliberations. The results were challenged by the Armenia Alliance, led by former President Robert Kocharyan, the I’m Honoured bloc, led by former National Security Service chief Artur Vanetsyan, and two minor parties. In addition to requesting that the results be annulled, the four parties had also appealed for a recount of the number of se

2021 Armenian Parliamentary Elections

Robert Kocharyan proposes Armenia ‘foreign agent’ law

by Ani Avetisyan

•2 min read

During a campaign stop, Armenia’s second president, Robert Kocharyan, said that he plans to ‘set strict controls’ on the work of organisations funded by foreign donors. ‘They will either be banned or will operate as foreign agents under strict control,’ Kocharyan said on June 13 during a campaign stop in Armenia’s Tavush province. The proposal appears to echo Russia’s recent ‘foreign agent’ law, which has led to the censure and closure of civil society and media organisations, including the i

Nikol Pashinyan brandishes a hammer before the election. He said the hammer represented his 'steel mandate'. Video still.

2021 Armenian Parliamentary Elections

Stunts and insults mark first week of campaigning in Armenia

by Ani Avetisyan

•3 min read

The first week of official campaigning for Armenia’s 20 June parliamentary election was heavy on personal insults, violent rhetoric, and mutual recriminations — with little about actual policy. Three years after the Velvet Revolution, Armenians are going to their third parliamentary election in the past five years, possibly the most competitive and consequential in the country’s history. The official election campaign period began on June 7 and quickly devolved as with calls for ‘political