The lawsuit filed by former Armenian President and Armenia Alliance parliamentary candidate Robert Kocharyan in the Administrative Court concerns not the substance of the criminal case, but the reasoning behind a decision of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), his lawyer Aram Orbelyan said while speaking to journalists outside the courthouse.

Kocharyan has filed a case against the CEC, challenging its June 17 decision granting consent for criminal proceedings to be initiated against him, Sputnik Armenia reported.

According to Orbelyan, the defense presented a number of arguments during the proceedings before the commission, including concerns regarding the legality of the criminal prosecution, suspicions of political motivation and questions related to the timing of the process. However, he said the commission declined to provide a substantive assessment of those issues.

“We asked a very simple question: what circumstances would be sufficient for consent to be denied? If the commission has the authority to grant consent, it also has the authority to refuse it. We need to understand the evidentiary standard—it may be low, it may be high,” Orbelyan said.

The lawyer stated that the commission responded to all objections using the same approach, emphasizing that it is not a court, does not provide legal assessments and does not discuss political matters. At the same time, he argued that the final administrative act lacks the reasoning underlying the decision.

“Anyone can open and read that administrative act and see that there is no explanation as to why consent was granted or why it was not denied. It merely records that the Prosecutor’s Office submitted a motion, after which a decision was adopted,” he said.

Orbelyan also argued that procedural issues exist. According to him, the opportunity to review case materials and present a position was not fully ensured, while the grounds for the decision are effectively being explained in court not by CEC representatives but by other participants in the proceedings.

The lawyer stressed that the Administrative Court should not examine questions of guilt or the merits of the criminal prosecution. In his view, the court’s task is to determine whether the Central Electoral Commission properly exercised its authority and adequately substantiated its decision.

“The administrative body was supposed to decide, explain and justify its position, while the Administrative Court was supposed to review that decision. Now the court is effectively trying to determine what exactly should be examined,” Orbelyan said.

On the evening of June 14, it became known that Robert Kocharyan had been prevented from leaving the country at Zvartnots Airport. On June 16, Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office petitioned the Central Electoral Commission for consent to initiate criminal proceedings and deprive three parliamentary candidates from the Armenia Alliance, including Kocharyan, of their liberty.

On June 17, Aram Orbelyan stated that the motion seeking to lift Kocharyan’s immunity and initiate criminal proceedings against him contained no description of any crime. According to the defense, the case concerns a transaction carried out in 2004 that was approved by the Armenian government, has never been challenged and with which Robert Kocharyan allegedly had no involvement.