38 lawmakers sign petition to change Kocharyan's preventive measure

PanARMENIAN.Net - 38 members of the Armenian National Assembly have signed a letter of recommendation, calling for a change in the measure of restraint against former President Robert Kocharyan, who has been arrested for two months.

Kocharyan was apprehended for two months on Friday, July 27 after being charged with overthrowing the constitutional order of Armenia by prior agreement with other persons back on March 1, 2008.

According to Viktor Soghomyan, spokesman for Kocharyan, 38 lawmakers have signed under the letter sent to the Prosecutor General's office, Aysor.am reports.

Kocharyan was summoned for interrogation on Thursday as a witness in an investigation into the post-presidential election crackdown on March 1, 2008. Eight civilians and two police officers were killed immediately after the election of a new President 10 years ago.

Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov, who commanded the Yerevan garrison of the Armenian Armed Forces on March 1, 2008, has also been charged with overthrowing the constitutional order of Armenia

The Investigation Service announced earlier that it had charged Armenia’s defense minister at the time of the March 1, 2008 incident, General Mikayel Harutyunyan, with illegally mobilizing the country’s Armed Forces against peaceful demonstrators, calling it a “breach of constitutional order.”