Armenia detains former President Kocharyan on corruption charges

Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his eldest son were detained Tuesday after law enforcement officers conducted searches at dozens of locations linked to the family, the country's Anti-Corruption Committee said.

Armenia's Prosecutor General's Office said it initiated criminal prosecution against Kocharyan, 71, on charges of abuse of authority, bribery, and large-scale money laundering.

The office said it detained four other people besides Kocharyan and his eldest son Sedrak as part of the investigation.

Armenia's Anti-Corruption Committee said it was investigating allegations that state assets were illegally sold to private companies below market value during Kocharyan's time in office from 1998 to 2008. It further said the case included nine other people besides Kocharyan.

Former President Serzh Sargsyan, who served as Kocharyan's prime minister from 2007 to 2008 before becoming president himself from 2008 to 2018, is also facing charges for alleged abuse of power or official authority as part of the case, the committee said.

Sargsyan was summoned to the Anti-Corruption Committee headquarters in Yerevan on Tuesday.

The elder Kocharyan leads the Moscow-friendly Armenia Alliance, parliament's second-largest opposition bloc.

Bagrat Mikoyan, who heads his office, described the detentions as "yet another attack on President Kocharyan and his family" by authorities. He added that Kocharyan felt ill after his detention and was taken to a hospital.

During his mandate as Armenia's president, Kocharyan deepened Yerevan's links to Moscow, signing a declaration of "allied partnership" with the Kremlin and overseeing a significant expansion of Russian investment in Armenia's economy.

He has maintained close personal ties with Vladimir Putin. In 2021, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the two had "good relations for a very long time" and were frequently in contact.

'A signal to the Kremlin'

The raids came less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan clashed with Kocharyan's younger son, Levon — who is part of Kocharyan senior's bloc — in a fiery exchange in parliament.

During a parliamentary question-and-answer session, Levon Kocharyan accused Pashinyan of pressuring the courts and law enforcement agencies to open investigations against individuals.

Pashinyan responded by asking Levon Kocharyan where his family's wealth came from, saying any assets gained at public expense should be returned to the state.

Robert Kocharyan went on trial in 2019, accused of ordering the illegal use of force by security officers against demonstrators protesting alleged fraud in the 2008 presidential election. At least 10 people were killed in the clashes. The charges were later dropped, and the legal proceedings ended in 2021.

Analyst Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan, said that critics have long accused Kocharyan of corruption while in power.

Iskandaryan said the case will intensify the conflict between the pro-Russian opposition and Pashinyan's government, which is pursuing a pro-Western course and prioritising closer ties with the European Union.

"Of course, this is a signal to the Kremlin," Iskandaryan said. "Kocharyan effectively positions himself as a Russian proxy, and we see a trend where the authorities have begun to fight — intensively and by all possible means — against political forces aligned with Russia."

Pashinyan, who was elected to office on the back of a 2018 street revolution, has often portrayed himself as a man of the people and supports closer ties with the West. The 51-year-old's party was re-elected in June.

The leader of the largest opposition party — Armenian-Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan — was arrested last year on suspicion of calling for the overthrow of Pashinyan.

Karapetyan is the founder of Russia's Tashir Group of Companies and has an estimated fortune of $4.1 billion (€3.5bn) — close to half of Armenia's annual public budget. He built his wealth primarily in Russia and also holds Russian and Cypriot citizenship.

In his criminal trial in April, Karapetyan told the court that he had begun the process of renouncing his Russian and Cypriot citizenships to be eligible to run in the June 2026 parliamentary elections. He and his lawyers have denied all charges.