Criminal Court of Appeal judge upholds March 1 case supervising prosecutor’s motion on recusal

Judge of the Criminal Court of Appeal Mkhitar Papoyan upheld the motion of the March 1 case supervising prosecutor on his recusal.

Papoyan was examining Armenia’s second president Robert Kocharyan lawyers' appeal of the decision of the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction not to release him on bail.

At December 6 court hearing prosecutor Gevorg Baghdasaryan submitted recusal motion to the judge Mkhitar Papoyan.

The prosecutor claimed that judge Papoyan cannot ensure impartial examination of the case due to influencing external factors that may cause distrust over the act made by Papoyan.

In particular, the prosecutor cited Armlur.am May 21, 2019 publication which said that “The decision to set Robert Kocharyan free was written by three judges of the Court of Appeal among who was Mkhitar Papoyan.”