Gevorg Baghdasarian and Petros Petrosian on Wednesday gave no reason for their resignation. Baghdasarian refused to say whether they have disagreements with Prosecutor-General Anna Vardapetian, who was installed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian last September.
Baghdasarian and Petrosian have presented evidence in support of coup and corruption charges leveled against Kocharian throughout the trial that began in 2019.
Kocharian and three other former officials were first prosecuted in connection with the 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan. Anna Danibekian, a district court judge presiding over their trial, acquitted them of “overthrown of the constitutional order” in early April 2021 ten days after Armenia’s Constitutional Court declared these charges unconstitutional. The prosecutors’ appeals against her decision were rejected by higher courts.
Danibekian also ruled at the time that Kocharian and his former chief of staff, Armen Gevorgian, will continue to stand trial on separate bribery charges which they reject as politically motivated. Court hearings on that case are still going on.
Vardapetian has not yet named the new trial prosecutors. One of Kocharian’s lawyers, Hayk Alumian, pointed out that they will need some time to familiarize themselves with details of the criminal case.
“That’s a great deal of work,” Alumian said, adding that the resignations could therefore further drag out Kocharian’s trial.
Kocharian, who is highly critical of Armenia’s current leadership, was first arrested in July 2018 shortly after the “velvet revolution” that brought Pashinian to power. He was set free on bail in June 2020.
The 68-year-old ex-president is the top leader of the opposition Hayastan alliance that finished second in parliamentary elections held in June 2021.