The court’s decision to arrest former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is hardly a triumph of justice, if one understands the reasons for such an event.
Here we should pay attention to the fact that contrary to all democratic speeches of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the judicial and law enforcement systems remained unchanged and dependent on the decisions of the government.
Kocharyan was arrested on Friday, July 27, in the case of dispersal of protest actions on March 1, 2008. It is worth recalling that the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization was also brought to this case, accusing him of overthrowing the constitutional order. And if everything is clear with the head of the CSTO, then, what was wrong with Kocharyan? Here, once it is worth to drop the option of the rule of law, because it’s not of the legality at all.
But why then did the new prime minister of the country, Nikol Paashinyan, hold demonstrative proceedings on the case against Kocharyan, who, it is worth noting, in March 2008 was the acting head of the republic? Attempts to impose “usurpation of power” on him also seem strained, as he “usurped” it not for himself, but for Serzh Sargsyan, along with whom the ruling coalition included the Orinats Yerkir Party headed by Arthur Baghdasaryan and the “Dashnaktsutyun” de facto, also took part in usurping. However, hardly anyone of them is threatened with persecution. An example of Sargsyan himself, who was not affected by Pashinyan’s political games, is proof of this.
But Kocharyan, unlike the latter, can present a real threat to the head of government. First of all, the arrest of the ex-president is a continuation of the same “witch-hunting” organized by Pashinyan to clean up the political arena before the beginning of the process of political and legal legitimization of power, with which the incumbent prime minister has problems. The thing is that Pashinyan is not the leader of the party that won the parliamentary elections. That is why he declared himself a “people’s prime minister”, emphasizing the will of the people in the course of a dubious revolution.
Kocharyan, in turn, in addition to the multi-billion dollar state has a huge influence among the ruling elite of the republic. In addition, according to experts, he also enjoys confidence in Moscow, which is explained by his appointment in 2009 as an independent director of the Russian corporation AFK Sistema, whom he remains so far.
Thus, for Pashinyan Robert Kocharyan is not just a strong political rival, but a pro-Russian political rival, which is extremely unprofitable for the current prime minister and his policy. And to neutralize the opponent, Pashinyan decided to play a proven card, which is traditionally appreciated by the residents of the republic. Speech about the so-called “Justice” by which he feeds his dubious right to power, because to implement the serious political, legal and socio-economic reforms of Pashinyan is not able to because of the same lack of legitimacy of power. But “the fight against scoundrels who plunder the country” does not require legitimacy. That’s why the easiest way was to arrange a wave of unique sacrifices after the velvet revolution. As we can see, Pashinyan uses this proven method up to now.