Robert Kocharyan §

Born in Stepanakert (Khankendi) in 1954; trained as an electrical engineer and worked at the Stepanakert Silk Combine in the 1980s. Co-founded the Karabakh Committee's Stepanakert wing in February 1988 and, after the proclamation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in September 1991, served as state-defence committee chair, prime minister, and from December 1994 first president of the unrecognised NKR, the period of consolidation immediately after the 1994 ceasefire. Ter-Petrosyan brought him to Yerevan as Prime Minister in March 1997; succeeded him as President in March 1998 after the Yerevan establishment forced Ter-Petrosyan out over the OSCE phased framework. Re-elected in 2003. The 1–2 March 2008 post-election protests in Yerevan ended with at least ten deaths and a state of emergency declared in his final days; the events still shadow his political career. Tried for "overthrowing the constitutional order" in connection with 1 March 2008; the case ran 2018–21 with successive constitutional-court interventions and was effectively closed without a verdict in April 2021.