Charges Against Kocharyan, Others in "March 1" Case Amended

In recent months, the Armenian law enforcement system has given new impetus to the investigation of the tragic events of "March 1," 2008, by making a series of principled decisions. During hearings in the National Assembly, Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan presented the key developments: the charges against Robert Kocharyan and other high-ranking officials have been changed, a lawsuit for 670 million drams has been filed against them to recover the compensation paid by the state to the victims, and the criminal prosecution of former Deputy Chief of Police Sasha Afyan has been reinstated.

After a long legal path, the criminal prosecution of the main defendants in the "March 1" case—Robert Kocharyan, Seyran Ohanyan, Yuri Khachaturov, and Armen Gevorgyan—has been resumed with a new legal qualification. Anna Vardapetyan recalled that in 2021, the Constitutional Court had declared Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code ("overthrow of the constitutional order") unconstitutional, on the basis of which the criminal prosecution against them was terminated.

However, based on the appeal of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Court of Cassation, after a phase of clarifying legal positions through the Constitutional Court, overturned the decisions of the lower courts in September 2024 and sent the case for a new investigation. This allowed the prosecution to change the legal qualification of the charges. "If the prosecutor finds that the committed act can be qualified under another article of the Criminal Code, they are competent to take steps to supplement or change the charges," Vardapetyan clarified.

As a result, on October 11, 2024, the public prosecutor decided to change the charges: Kocharyan, Ohanyan, Khachaturov, and Gevorgyan are now charged under Article 309, Part 3 of the Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003 (exceeding official powers, which caused grave consequences). This article corresponds to Article 441, Part 2, Point 5 of the current Criminal Code. "In the near future, the amended charges will be presented to the court," the prosecutor general added.

In parallel with the criminal case, the Prosecutor General's Office has also taken steps to recover the financial damage suffered by the state. On August 11, 2025, a lawsuit was filed with the Anti-Corruption Court to recover 670 million drams from Robert Kocharyan, Armen Gevorgyan, Seyran Ohanyan, and Yuri Khachaturov jointly and severally. This amount was allocated from the state budget to the victims of the "March 1" events as support, based on the 2009 law of the National Assembly and the 2019 decision of the government.

The prosecutor's office also requested the application of a measure to secure the claim, and the Anti-Corruption Court granted it, freezing the defendants' property in the amount of the claim, 670 million drams.

In another important development, by the decision of the Prosecutor General, the 2020 decision to terminate the criminal prosecution of former Deputy Chief of Police Sasha Afyan on the grounds of the statute of limitations was annulled. The investigation in his case has substantiated that he, exceeding his powers, organized the dispersal of peaceful protesters in Freedom Square, as a result of which dozens of citizens received bodily injuries. "On the night of February 29 to March 1, Sasha Afyan assembled the officers of the Patrol and Sentry Service Regiment under an alarm, armed them with special means, and sent them to Freedom Square to disperse the sit-in protesters," Anna Vardapetyan presented.

The Prosecutor General clarified that the decision to terminate the prosecution was illegal, as according to the precedents of the Court of Cassation and the ECHR, the statute of limitations cannot be applied for manifestations of torture or ill-treatment.

"Sasha Afyan's actions, as exceeding powers accompanied by violence, are equated with ill-treatment, therefore the criminal prosecution could not be terminated on the grounds of the statute of limitations," Vardapetyan emphasized.

Now, the criminal prosecution against Afyan has been reinstated, and the case will be sent to court with an indictment.