Pashinyan: ex-president Kocharyan is a bribe-taker

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared during a government session that although not officially stated before, former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has been recorded in court as a bribe-taker. He said that the government erred in maintaining excessive politeness.

“By trying to be courteous, we made a mistake. We never officially stated that Robert Kocharyan is a bribe-taker, although it's recorded in court,” Pashinyan said, as reported by Radar.am .

The prime minister noted that Kocharyan agreed to close a bribery case against him based on the statute of limitations, which he described as an implicit confession.

“This happens when he admits to taking bribes. Now, Armenia’s judicial system has officially recorded that a person who held the office of the second president is a bribe-taker,” Pashinyan added.

He stated that from now on, whenever he mentions Kocharyan publicly, he will refer to him as “bribe-taker Robert Kocharyan.”

“They’re no longer even trying to prove they’re not thieves, scoundrels, or degenerates,” he said during the same session, according to Panorama.am .

Pashinyan also addressed claims in the French media alleging that he purchased a villa in France for €3 million.

“There are a couple of Dashnak types in France who create a website for 3 euros, fill it with nonsense, and then you’re left trying to disprove it,” he said.

His wife, Anna Hakobyan, also responded to an article published by the French site Info du jour, which claimed the prime minister bought a $3.1 million villa in Marseille. She called it fake news and stated they plan to sue the author.

Asked why they don’t take legal action against similar publications in Armenia, Hakobyan said: “We can’t sue everyone — we don’t have that kind of money, we have a big family and many concerns.”