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Judge of the Yerevan First Instance Court Davit Grigoryan has issued a statement following the decision by Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to suspend his powers and the criminal prosecution launched by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

In the statement released on Wednesday, Judge Grigoryan once rejects the criminal charges brought against him as baseless and thanks to around100 lawyers who publicly came up in his defense, vowing readiness to defend his interests at court.

“Dear colleagues, I personally know some of you through our joint work and am not familiar with most of you, yet I am sure that you all realize what is going on in reality. Your decision is not about defending Judge Grigorian’s interests, rather than combating the pressures and persecutions on the way of the establishment of an independent judicial system in our Motherland,” Grigoryan said in his message, adding he was proud to see dozens of attorneys were not indifferent over the recent developments.

“The establishment of justice in Armenia has no alternative, and the institute of advocates has its important role in it,” the statement released on behalf of the judge said.

To remind, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) allowed the criminal prosecution of Davit Grigoryan, who suspended the trial of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan and released him on bail in May. Law-enforcement agencies raided his office earlier in July and confiscated some materials as part of a criminal probe into, what they say, an ‘official forgery’ involving the judge.

The Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday brought charges on three counts as part of a criminal probe into official forgery. According to The Prosecutor’s Office statement, in 2018 Grigoryan, with the assistance of a trial secretary, attached fake protocols to two court cases assigned to him.