Armenia's second president Robert Kocharyan and his son arrested

Armenia's Anti-Corruption Committee has announced the arrest of the country's second president Robert Kocharyan and his eldest son Sedrak Kocharyan. Searches and other investigative actions are being carried out at several dozen addresses, including the homes of Kocharyan and his son Levon.

According to the committee, investigators have information that the former president, using his official position and acting in collusion with associates, acquired a number of valuable state properties on fictitious grounds and at prices well below market value.

According to investigators, the property was registered to affiliated companies to conceal the real owner. Kocharyan is accused of abuse of power, laundering criminal proceeds on an especially large scale and receiving an especially large bribe.

Kocharyan's supporters have repeatedly described criminal prosecutions of the former president as politically motivated. In 2021 the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the article under which the ex-president had been charged in the case of the events of 1 March 2008.