Ex-President Robert Kocharyan Trial Judge Removed from Bench

In a move prompted by the Armenian government, a judicial oversight body dismissed a Yerevan court judge on Tuesday for her handling of former President Robert Kocharyan’s extensive trial, which concluded without a verdict last December.

The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), led by a political ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, claimed that Judge Anna Danibekyan failed to “efficiently” administer justice in what it called “one of the most important cases in the history of judicial practice in Armenia.”

Robert Kocharyan, who governed Armenia from 1998 to 2008, was arrested shortly after Pashinyan came to power in 2018. Initially, he faced charges of attempting a coup during a 2008 post-election crackdown on opposition protesters in Yerevan. Later, he was also charged with bribery. Kocharyan, his former chief of staff Armen Gevorgyan, and two retired army generals went on trial in 2019. They all denied the accusations, labeling them as politically motivated.

The coup charges were dropped in 2021 after Armenia’s Constitutional Court declared them unconstitutional. However, Kocharyan and Gevorgyan continued to face trial for alleged bribery.

Judge Danibekyan closed the bribery case on December 27, 2023, without acquitting or convicting Kocharyan. She cited the expiration of the statute of limitations in May 2023 as the reason for her decision. Less than two months later, the SJC released an incriminating video commissioned by its pro-government chairman, Karen Andreasyan. The video attempted to explain the “collapse” of the corruption trials of Kocharyan and other former officials, placing blame on the judges who presided over these cases.

Armenia’s Union of Judges condemned the video, calling it a gross violation of legal provisions that prohibit any pressure on judges and interference in their work. The video became central to the Justice Ministry’s demand for disciplinary action against Danibekyan.

The SJC supported the ministry’s claim that Danibekyan should not have combined the two criminal cases against Kocharyan into a single trial. They also asserted that she failed to prevent the ex-president from prolonging the trial unnecessarily. “Judge Danibekyan contributed to the expiration of the statute of limitations in the case of Robert Kocharyan and to the termination of the criminal proceedings against him,” read the decision by Andreasyan.

Danibekyan declined to comment on the decision. She was scheduled to present her arguments at an SJC hearing but was not allowed to do so because she arrived five minutes late.

Danibekyan’s removal is likely to intensify claims by Armenian opposition leaders and legal experts that Pashinyan’s government is attempting to further restrict judicial independence under the guise of Western-backed “judicial reforms.” The government denies these allegations.

During a cabinet meeting in November 2023, Pashinyan expressed frustration over the slow pace of trials involving former Armenian officials. Shortly afterward, Andreasyan announced plans to create a video highlighting “the five most famous cases” to identify “the culprits among law enforcement agencies and judges” for disciplinary action.

Andreasyan, who served as justice minister and was a member of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party before becoming SJC chairman in 2022, has overseen a significant increase in disciplinary proceedings against judges initiated by the Ministry of Justice. Since then, the SJC has dismissed numerous judges, including Davit Harutiunyan, who was removed in July 2023 after criticizing the SJC for arbitrarily firing his colleagues at the behest of a single person.