Pro-Russian Former President Kocharyan Detained In Armenia
- 27.08.2026, 16:44
He is facing charges under several sections of the law.
Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Court ruled to remand the country’s former president Robert Kocharyan in custody for two months. This was reported on Thursday, August 27, by the local news agency News.am, citing a spokesperson for the Anti-Corruption Committee. According to the report, Kocharyan is charged with abuse of office, money laundering on an especially large scale, and accepting a bribe on an especially large scale.
The former president’s arrest took place two days earlier—the day after his youngest son, MP Levon Kocharyan, publicly stated that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had “ruined” Nagorno-Karabakh. In response, Pashinyan demanded that the MP’s family explain the origin of their multimillion-dollar fortune and promised to hold those responsible to account.
According to News.am, Robert Kocharyan’s health deteriorated sharply following his detention, and on the night of August 27, doctors decided to transfer him to a hospital.
Investigators believe that during his presidency from 1998 to 2008, Kocharyan, together with his accomplices, used his official position to transfer state property to himself and his associates at prices significantly below market value, bypassing the public bidding process.
In addition to Kocharyan himself, criminal cases have been opened against nine other individuals. Among them is the ex-president’s eldest son, Sedrak Kocharyan, who is charged with money laundering on an exceptionally large scale; former Defense Minister and ex-President Serzh Sargsyan, who is accused of abuse of state or official authority; the late former Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, who died in 2007; former Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglaryan; a representative of the company “Local Developers”; the head of the construction company “Aygedzor,” as well as his wife and two daughters.
Kocharyan is linked to Putin by “long-standing warm relations”
71-year-old Robert Kocharyan, as reported by “Deutsche Welle”, heads the opposition bloc “Armenia,” which received about 10% of the vote in the parliamentary elections in early June. According to repeated statements by Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the former president has long-standing friendly ties with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. After completing his last presidential term, Kocharyan took a leadership position at the major Russian investment company AFK Sistema, which, among other things, actively invests in government projects.
Kocharyan himself has confirmed the existence of a special relationship with Putin, noting that in the second year of their acquaintance, he “felt a certain chemistry” between them. In his words, “We never lied to each other. This relationship was very sincere, candid, and straightforward.”
It is worth noting that this is not the first such instance in the politician’s career: In July 2018, Kocharyan had already been detained in connection with the case involving the crackdown on protests that followed the Armenian presidential election on March 1, 2008, during which 10 people were killed.