Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has approved a request to initiate criminal proceedings against former President Robert Kocharyan. The information was announced by Kocharyan’s lawyer, Aram Orbelyan, in comments to journalists.

The CEC considered the motions submitted by the Prosecutor General’s Office during a closed-door session, according to Sputnik Armenia.

“The commission effectively acknowledged that it does not know what it is doing. We clearly demonstrated that the information contained in the accusation is false—not merely unsubstantiated, but false,” Orbelyan said.

The lawyer reiterated the defense’s position that the allegations presented by prosecutors are unfounded and disputed the factual basis of the request.

The prosecutor’s office had sought authorization to proceed against several parliamentary candidates from the Hayastan alliance.

On June 16, Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office applied to the Central Electoral Commission seeking consent to initiate criminal proceedings and authorize the detention of three parliamentary candidates from the Hayastan alliance: Robert Kocharyan, Asatur Kocharyan and Ruslan Barseghyan.