MP mandate rescues ex-Armenian president's son from jail

Hayastan (Armenia) faction deputy Levon Kocharyan has been released from prison.

Caliber.Az reports with reference to the Armenian media.

“This is ridiculous. What happened to me showed how a person, who was tortured by four police officers, can himself end up under arrest. We have been witnessing legal chaos for several years now, but the authorities are demonstrating that they are ready for more,” he noted in a conversation with reporters.

Kocharyan repeated that the case against him was fabricated and did not rule out that the authorities would try to arrest him again.

“The conditions were the same as for an ordinary prisoner. Naturally, it is unpleasant to be under arrest on a trumped-up case, but this is a fight and there is no need to give up,” he said.

When asked whether the acceptance of an MP mandate is evidence of his desire to engage in politics, Kocharyan Jr. noted that under the current circumstances, “one must take into account the realities”.

Levon Kocharyan received a mandate as a parliamentarian of the Armenia faction due to the fact that, as previously known, Armen Charchyan, an MP from Robert Kocharyan’s Armenia faction, laid down his mandate. The parliamentary candidates of the Armenian parliament from the same bloc following him on the list - Migrdat Madatyan (No. 47), Angela Nalbandyan (No. 48), Gerasim Vardanyan (No. 49) - submitted petitions to the Central Election Commission to renounce their mandates. As a result, the candidate listed under No. 50 should receive a deputy mandate, i. e. Levon Kocharyan.

As the chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, Vahagn Hovakimyan, said at a meeting of the Central Electoral Commission, several candidates withdrew their mandates, and the turn on the electoral list came to Kocharyan Jr.