Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his eldest son, Sedrak, have been detained by law enforcement officers following coordinated searches at dozens of locations linked to their family, according to the country's Anti-Corruption Committee. The Prosecutor General's Office announced on Tuesday that it has initiated criminal prosecution against the 71-year-old former leader on charges of abuse of authority, bribery, and large-scale money laundering.
As part of the expanding investigation, authorities have detained four other individuals in addition to Kocharyan and his eldest son. The Anti-Corruption Committee is currently investigating allegations that valuable state assets were illegally sold to private companies at prices far below market value during Kocharyan's tenure as president from 1998 to 2008. The case reportedly involves nine other people besides the former president.
Former President Serzh Sargsyan, who served as Kocharyan's prime minister from 2007 to 2008 before holding the presidency himself from 2008 to 2018, is also facing charges of alleged abuse of power or official authority in connection with the case. Sargsyan was summoned to the Anti-Corruption Committee headquarters in Yerevan on Tuesday.
The elder Kocharyan currently leads the Moscow-friendly Armenia Alliance, which stands as the second-largest opposition bloc in the Armenian parliament. Bagrat Mikoyan, the head of Kocharyan's office, strongly condemned the actions, describing the detentions as "yet another attack on President Kocharyan and his family" by the current authorities. Mikoyan added that the former president fell ill following his detention and was subsequently taken to a hospital.
During his time as president, Kocharyan significantly deepened Armenia's strategic relationship with Moscow, signing an "allied partnership" declaration with the Kremlin and overseeing a major expansion of Russian investment in the Armenian economy. He has also maintained close personal ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2021, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that the two leaders have enjoyed "good relations for a very long time" and remain in frequent contact.
The law enforcement raids took place less than 24 hours after a heated exchange in parliament between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Kocharyan's younger son, Levon, who serves as a lawmaker within his father's political bloc. During a parliamentary question-and-answer session, Levon Kocharyan accused Pashinyan of pressuring courts and law enforcement agencies to open politically motivated investigations. Pashinyan countered by questioning the origins of the Kocharyan family's wealth, stating that any assets acquired at the expense of the public should be returned to the state.
This is not the first time the former president has faced legal action. Robert Kocharyan went on trial in 2019, accused of ordering the illegal use of force by security officers against demonstrators who were protesting alleged fraud in the 2008 presidential election. At least 10 people were killed in those clashes. However, the charges were later dropped, and those legal proceedings concluded in 2021.
Alexander Iskandaryan, an analyst and director of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute, noted that critics have long accused Kocharyan of corruption during his time in power. Iskandaryan observed that this case will likely intensify the ongoing conflict between the pro-Russian opposition and Pashinyan's government, which is pursuing a pro-Western foreign policy and prioritizing closer integration with the European Union.
According to Iskandaryan, the move also carries broader geopolitical weight. "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."
Prime Minister Pashinyan, who initially rose to power following a street revolution in 2018, has consistently presented himself as a populist reformer and an advocate for closer ties with the West. The 51-year-old leader's party secured re-election in June.
The current administration has also targeted other prominent pro-Russian figures in the country. Last year, Samvel Karapetyan, an Armenian-Russian billionaire and the leader of Armenia's largest opposition party, was arrested on suspicion of calling for the overthrow of Pashinyan. Karapetyan is the founder of Russia's Tashir Group of Companies and possesses an estimated fortune of $4.1 billion (€3.5 billion), an amount equivalent to nearly half of Armenia's annual public budget. Karapetyan, who built his wealth primarily in Russia and holds both Russian and Cypriot citizenship, told a court during his criminal trial in April that he had begun the process of renouncing his foreign citizenships to run in the June 2026 parliamentary elections. Karapetyan and his legal team have denied all charges against him.
