The attorneys representing Robert Kocharyan in the ″March 1″ criminal case on Tuesday filed a motion with a first instance court, asking it to consider possible procedures to end the prosecution against the second president, Eurasia Diary reports citing Tert.am.
A member of the defense team, Hovhannes Khudoyan, insisted on conflicting provisions with the legal acts dealing with the proceeding. The lawyer cited, particularly, Article 300.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which he said served as grounds for suspending the prosecution against the seven other individuals involved in the case.
Khudoyan referred to specific facts standing as clear evidence that many participants of the March 1-2, 2008 anti-government rallies were not peaceful protesters (as they were found to have used cold weapons and Molotov cocktails, as well as provoked turmoil). ″If those facts have 'turned out' wrongful 10 years later, then it was the responsibility of Prosecutor General’s Office to proceed to revise the cases,″ he said.
The lawyer claimed that the presumption of innocence was violated in relation to both his client and the other defendants, highlighting ″disproportionate measures″ imposed by the law enforcement authorities (property lien, measure of restraint and failure to provide the materials pertaining to the case).
Agreeing with his colleague, another member of the defense team, Aram Orbelyan, confirmed that an available judicial act established the violation of the said principle (by the Special Investigative Service).
Both lawyers highlighted the absence of specific efforts by the court to "ensure a comprehensive and objective proceeding" to eventually resolve the case.