Yerevan Court of First Instance Judge Anna Danibekyan, now presiding at the trial of former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and three other ex-government officials charged with usurping state power, has yet again thrown out a motion to recuse herself.

This was the third time that Kocharyan’s defense lawyers, arguing that Danibkeyan is not impartial, had filed a motion demanding that Danibekyan step down as presiding judge.

The other three defendants in the case are Armen Gevorgyan (Armenia’s National Security Council Secretary at the time) and two other former government officials (then Armenian Deputy Minister of Defense Yuri Khachaturov and Seyran Ohanyan, who was Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces in March 2008).

All have declared their innocence and have charged the Pashinyan government with conducting a political witch-hunt against them.