Armenia: Second stage of Ara-Maidan
A new political scandal in Armenia, where not long ago there was a change of power accompanied by street riots, after which Nikol Pashinyan, who took the chair of Prime Minister, began a purge of his opponents under the pretext of fighting corruption. The court decided to release ex-President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. In order to prevent the release of a powerful opponent capable of uniting the opposition, Pashinyan again calls his supporters to the streets tomorrow.
...On May 18, the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction ruled: to release ex-President of Armenia Kocharyan from custody on the guarantee of the former and current leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, who personally appeared in court on May 16.
Actually, nothing prevented the Armenian Themis from passing the same verdict a little earlier, when Kocharyan received moral support from Putin and Nazarbayev, which was a clear signal to Pashinyan: “Don’t get carried away, kid, don’t create dangerous precedents - and there will be something to put you in prison for.” time".
However, the Armenian Prosecutor’s Office, staffed with “new faces,” has already announced through Prosecutor Bisharyan that it will appeal the court’s decision. According to Bisharyan, Kocharyan should remain under arrest, since “in freedom he can obstruct justice.”
The release of the ex-president caused not only legal, but also social tension in Yerevan: both supporters and opponents of Kocharyan held rallies near the courthouse. Moreover, on May 18, as observers note, their number and activity were noticeably greater than usual, so the police were forced to pull in additional forces.
And, it should be noted, this was justified, since the Maidan opponents of Kocharyan’s release from custody, accustomed to resolving issues with a cavalry charge and immediately, decided to break into the courthouse to stage a protest directly in the courtroom.
Fortunately, this time the law enforcement officers were guided by the law, and not by considerations of “revolutionary expediency” under pressure from the street, and Pashinyan’s men were not allowed into the courthouse.
A representative of the influential “Karabakh clan”, ex-President Robert Kocharyan, is accused under a very strange article “of usurping power by prior conspiracy with other persons.” Three more former high-ranking officials of the old government of Armenia are involved in this case.
Let us recall that in March 1998, Kocharyan won the presidential elections in Armenia with a confident result of 59,5% and his election took place against the backdrop of the resignation of the most liberal and pro-Western President Ter-Petrosyan, who had almost driven Armenia to the brink with his precious ideas.
At the end of October 1999, an unprecedented terrorist attack took place in the Armenian parliament, organized by a group of militants from former student “activists” and former “Dashnaks”, led by former journalist Nairi Hunanyan.
At the hands of militants, the Prime Minister of Armenia Vazgen Sargsyan, the Speaker of the National Assembly Karen Demirchyan, the Minister of General Affairs, an academician of the Armenian Academy of Sciences and several deputies were killed. Another 50 deputies and ministers who were at parliamentary hearings were taken hostage. The terrorists demanded that only Armenian President Robert Kocharyan conduct negotiations with them.
So, Kocharyan personally met with the militants, negotiated with them and convinced them to surrender.
There are two versions according to which the terrorist attack could have been organized by Hunanyan’s group. The first is to prevent the exchange of “corridors” connecting the territories of Armenia and Azerbaijan with Nagorno-Karabakh. The corresponding agreement, which the parties were about to conclude, remained unsigned.
The second version – that Kocharyan himself was the organizer of the terrorist attack in order to remove a number of key figures who remained in power – is still in circulation among the ex-president’s opponents, although it has not found any substantiated confirmation.
Finally, the Ara-Maydowners are still excited by Kocharyan’s re-election as president in March 2003 with 67,5% of those voting for him. The maydauns have been accusing Kocharyan of fraud and use of “administrative resources” for 16 years now, but the case of “usurpation of power” refers to the events of March 2008, as a result of which the current Prime Minister Pashinyan, and then an oppositionist, found himself in the dock, and then in prison, but was soon released under an amnesty.
The release of Kocharyan from custody is an important moment in the new policy of Armenia. His arrest was timed to coincide with early parliamentary elections and was supposed to once again demonstrate to Pashinyan’s supporters and opponents his fight against corruption, regardless of persons and ranks.
True, so far it is mainly representatives of the old government who are suffering in this struggle, which is interpreted by many observers as Pashinyan’s personal revenge, nurtured long ago, when he was one of Ter-Petrosyan’s henchmen at street protests.
There is an opinion that Pashinyan still gained some points in his favor during Kocharyan’s arrest, but the dignified behavior of the ex-president of Armenia in prison also added to his popularity as a person persecuted by the new government.
This means that the hitherto unformed discontent and opposition to the new regime of Armenia received in the person of Kocharyan a new point of crystallization into an opposition political force. And there is no doubt that the number of dissatisfied people in the current situation will only grow and get stronger.
On Sunday, May 19, Pashinyan’s reaction to the court decision to release Kocharyan became known first-hand. Apparently, the leader of the maydauns, on principle, does not want to hear any signals and calmly accept court verdicts, protesting them with the involvement of the street, which is still obedient to him.
Pashinyan intends to actively intervene on Monday, when Robert Kochyaryan will be brought to court so that the decision on his release will be read to him.
At the same time, the representative of the “Yerevan clan” Pashinyan is demonstratively coming into conflict with the Karabakh guarantors of the ex-president, who are authoritative among the Armenians.
“From 08:30 in the morning we are blocking all exits and entrances to court buildings without exception. So that no one can enter inside. My speech at 12:00 will be broadcast live,” Pashinyan cheerfully scribbled on his Facebook feed.
This, according to him, is the second stage of the revolution. What, the law? What law? No, we haven’t heard... However, as always with the Maidan workers.
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