Lawyers for former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan, charged with embezzlement and usurping state power, have called on Criminal Appeals Court Judge Armen Danielyan to recuse himself from the case that will decide whether Kocharyan’s defense team will be provided all materials pertinent to the trial looking into the March 2008 post-election protests that left ten dead in Yerevan.

A lower court, in December, sustained an appeal by Kocharyan’s lawyers to obligate the Special Investigative Service to hand over these materials.

The Prosecutor General’s Office disagreed and appealed the decision.

Kocharyan’s lawyers claim that Judge Danielyan is negatively biased towards their client.

Danielyan was the judge who overturned the May 2019 verdict of the lower court to release Kocharyan on bail.

Kocharyan was not present at today’s hearing.

Photo is of Judge Armen Danielyan