Kocharyan: As far as I know, on March 1, 2008, army units did not use weapons and did not participate in clashes with opposition followers

ArmInfo. Second Armenian President Robert Kocharian spoke about the events that preceded the March 1, 2008 incident.

So, in an interview with yerevan.today, Kocharyan, in particular, said that immediately after the 2008 presidential election he flew to Moscow to attend the informal CIS summit. "Then the protests against the results of the presidential elections were just beginning, Ter-Petrosyan, who won 21.5% of the vote, declared himself the elected president, despite the victory of Serzh Sargsyan.In the evening of February 21, the head of the National Security Service Gorik Hakobyan called me several times and reported disturbing news , in particular, about holding Ter-Petrosyan unauthorized rallies, but the most depressing thing was that Ter-Petrosyan and his supporters tried to involve in the political process the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union, In fact, through Yerkrapah, the army was involved in political processes, which was a real threat to the constitutional order. It was necessary to take urgent measures to resolve the situation, so I interrupted the visit and returned to Yerevan on the evening of February 22. Landing at the Yerevan airport, I immediately instructed to gather the leadership of the army the next morning at the residence of the head of state. During the meeting, I gave a clear instruction - on no pretext to prevent the participation of the army in political processes. In addition, I gave the time to the generals of "Yerkrapah" to make a choice - either they leave the ranks of the Armed Forces, or UVY. It is unacceptable when generals, instead of engaging in their direct duties, discuss the question of the participation of a semi-military structure in political processes for two days in a row.

It is noteworthy that the head of the UVY, Lieutenant-General Manvel Grigoryan, who at that time held the post of Deputy Minister of Defense, was not present at the meeting. He did not appear, referring to the fact that he was on vacation. But I indirectly told him to stay at home and wait for my final decision about his fate. I also said that if the political assemblies in the UVY do not stop until evening, measures would begin to confiscate weapons and ammunition.  In the evening of that day, the meetings at the UVY were stopped, and Manvel Grigoryan, obeying my instructions, waited for my decisions at home. In addition, I demanded that the command staff of the army maintain high discipline and do everything so that it is not involved in political processes, especially taking into account the heated situation in the Karabakh conflict zone. The conversation was tough and short. There was no discussion of this. I said what I said and left.

After that, I held two more meetings with the leadership of the Police and the National Security Service.  The essence and theme of the discussions were identical. During none of these meetings, there was no discussion or talk about the development of an action plan.  Then I was only interested in the issue of increasing discipline in the security forces, ensuring their unity and excluding the impact on political processes, "Kocharian said.

Speaking about the so-called secret order 0038 of ex-Defense Minister Mikael Harutyunyan, who appears in the case on March 1, 2008, according to which Harutyunyan passes as the accused, Kocharyan explained that this is an internal document. "It is simply absurd to accuse the minister of the fulfillment of the obligations prescribed by law to him, as far as I know, the army units did not use weapons on March 1, 2008 and did not participate in clashes with the followers of the opposition" , - assured Kocharyan.