YEREVAN, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Armenia's Court of Appeal on Friday decided to detain former President Robert Kocharyan after a five-day hearing, state media reported.
The report said that according to Kocharyan's lawyer, the former president was not present during the hearing when the decision of the Court of Appeal was announced.
Kocharyan was detained in July for the first time by the Court of Yerevan on a charge of attempting to overthrow the country's constitutional order, and later released following a court ruling.
The charge against Kocharyan was brought by the Special Investigative Service which alleged that the former president illegally used the military to quash political unrest that erupted following the presidential election in 2008 which saw Kocharyan's ally Serzh Sargsyan come to power.
If convicted, the former president could face a sentence of 10 to 15 years of imprisonment for the alleged crime.
Kocharyan served as president of Armenia from 1998 to 2008. Sargsyan succeeded him but was forced to step down on April 23 this year following weeks of nationwide protests.
