Armenia detains former president Kocharyan and his son
Armenia's anti-corruption body has detained former president Robert Kocharyan and his son, MP Levon Kocharyan, as part of a corruption investigation. Six people were detained in total.
Armenia's former president and leader of the opposition "Armenia" alliance, Robert Kocharyan, was taken to the Anti-Corruption Committee after a search of his home, Radio Liberty's Armenian service reports. Searches were also carried out at the apartment of his son Levon Kocharyan, a member of the National Assembly.
The Anti-Corruption Committee said that as part of a criminal case involving corruption offenses, searches and other procedural actions were carried out at several dozen addresses. The committee later reported that six people, including Robert Kocharyan and his son, had been detained.
Allegations of misappropriated state property
According to investigators, Robert Kocharyan, using his official position and acting under prior agreement with close associates, appropriated state property on various fabricated grounds and acquired a number of socially and economically significant assets at prices well below market value. The committee published a list of properties it says were illegally acquired, including the Play City entertainment center, the Fast Kart company, a 2-hectare plot of land, the Blue Sevan resort complex, the Art Build company, a 29,000-square-meter plot with a building on it, the Orange Fitness club, the Piazza Grande business center and the Toyota Yerevan company. Kocharyan's defense has not yet commented on the accusations.
Parliamentary clash
On August 24, Levon Kocharyan called Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a "traitor" during a parliamentary debate. Pashinyan responded by asking where the Kocharyan family's wealth came from and why he was a millionaire, saying he would not allow such wealth to be passed down through generations and calling it a political, not personal, matter.
In June, Armenia's Central Election Commission approved criminal prosecution of Robert Kocharyan on charges of abuse of office and money laundering, and he was barred from leaving the country. Forces aligned with Pashinyan recently won parliamentary elections, defeating the pro-Russian "Armenia" bloc associated with Kocharyan, whose representatives called the vote unfree.
