The Constitutional Court of Armenia has partially satisfied the appeal of the Court of Cassation, which sought clarification on the constitutionality of Article 309.1 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code. This article, after the accusation was deemed unconstitutional, did not allow for the requalification of the charge in court.
The case involved accusations against Robert Kocharyan, Seyran Ohanyan, Yuri Khachaturov, and Armen Gevorgyan related to the events of March 1, 2008, when 10 people were killed as a result of clashes between law enforcement forces and protesters who disagreed with the results of the presidential election, reports "Lurer."
The Constitutional Court ruled that although Article 309.1 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code is consistent with the Constitution, the prosecutor may change the charges brought against the defendant before the court retires to the deliberation room. This can be done if the defendant's actions contain elements of another offense provided for by the Criminal Code, regardless of the evidence examined during the trial.
This means that the charges against Kocharyan and the former high-ranking officials must be requalified.
Recall that on March 26, 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that Article 300.1 of the Armenian Criminal Code (overthrowing the constitutional order), under which Robert Kocharyan and others were accused, did not comply with the Constitution. Consequently, the criminal prosecution was terminated, as the prosecutor's office could not requalify the charges.
