An Armenian court has ordered former president Robert Kocharyan held in pre-trial detention on corruption charges, two days after his arrest in a sweep against businesses linked to his family.
The Anti-Corruption Court in Yerevan, presided over by Judge S. Dadoyan, “fully granted” the investigators’ motion on August 27, Anti-Corruption Committee spokeswoman Marina Ohanjanyan said.
Kocharyan, who was president from 1998 to 2008, faces three counts of abuse of official powers, two of accepting a particularly large bribe and four of large-scale money laundering.
The hearing ran on without him. He was taken from the court to hospital on August 26, the second time his health had failed since he was detained on August 25.
Investigators allege he used the presidency to move state property into private hands at prices far below market value, concealing the ownership behind affiliated companies.
They say 56 properties worth some 2.6 billion drams (about €6.3 million) were signed over to him, and that Defence Ministry land went to an associate’s company at a quarter of its assessed value.
His eldest son, Sedrak, was remanded for two months on August 26. Four other suspects are being held and a fifth is under house arrest.
Kocharyan’s lawyer Aram Orbelyan has said the allegations concern decisions approved by the government of the day rather than by the president acting alone. His office calls the case an attack on the family.
Kocharyan leads the Armenia Alliance, the second-largest opposition bloc in parliament and the main pro-Moscow force in Armenian politics.
The raids began a day after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament that Armenia could lodge a European Union membership application in the near future.
An earlier prosecution of Kocharyan, over the deadly suppression of protests following the 2008 election, collapsed in 2021.
