Head of SIS of Armenia considers fact of participation of armed  forces in events of March 1, 2008 more than reasonable

ArmInfo. The fact of the participation of the armed forces in the events of March 1, 2008 is more than reasonable, even without the latest disclosures. The head  of the Special Investigation Service (SIS), Sasun Khachatryan, told  reporters on November 1 after a government meeting. Yesterday  investigative body accused of "falsifying evidence in a criminal case  of a particularly serious crime'' to the former head of the  investigative group in the case of and the expert-  ballista, they are wanted.

According to the head of the SIS, today there are doubts about the  "customer" of the revealed frauds, but he will refrain from talking  about them at this stage. "The investigation is underway and, if we  have the results, we will definitely report," said Khachatryan. At  present, according to the chairman of the SIS, the available evidence  suggests that over the past years the physical evidence in the March  1 case from the scene has been replaced. In particular, at least 1  thousand cartridges from ammunition from the scene of the collision  were replaced by cartridges fired by employees of internal troops.  "They were released from military weapons, but replaced by others -  from weapons assigned to internal troops," he said.

Regarding the fact that the accused senior investigator for  particularly important cases of the Special Investigation Service  Vahagn Harutyunyan does not recognize the charges and considers it  illegal to put him on the wanted list, because he, through his  representative, informed the investigative body about his  whereabouts, Sasun Khachatryan explained: "The search is not only  announced in order to establish the location of the accused, but,  according to the criminal procedural proceedings, also involves  ensuring the appearance of the person in the authority conducting the  proceedings > - said Sasun Khachatryan.

To note according to a report distributed by the Special  Investigation Service (SIS), it turned out that V.A.  occupying the  position of chief investigator for particularly important cases of  the SIS in 2007-2011, organized the falsification of evidence, in  particular, with the aim of concealing the "real circumstances of the  unconstitutional use of the Armed Forces of Armenia, including the  unlawful use of firearms by members of the armed forces" during  events in Yerevan March 2, 2008. According to the decision of March  5, 2008, in the course of the examination, V. A. and the investigator  of the same group invited a representative of the commanding staff of  the police forces and stated that in order to conceal the  participation of the Defense Ministry's units and deny rumors about  their actions, they must be exchanged at the scene about 1000 sleeves  on the police cartridges shot.

The high-ranking police officer of the police force, in turn, ordered  his subordinates to carry out the assignment. The required number of  shots was fired at the shooting range in the village of Getazat,  Ararat region. Then the sleeves were transferred to the  expert-ballista A.A. The latter, assisting V.A., fulfilling his  order, replaced the liners and entered the required information on  the results of the examination into the report issued by him of  December 29, 2008, which was attached to the materials of the  criminal case file on December 30, 2007 as forged evidence.

The names of the accused are not indicated by the Special  Investigation Service, but it is known that until 2011 the  investigation team was headed by the chief investigator for  particularly important cases of the Special Investigation Service  Vahagn Harutyunyan, and the expert on ballistic expertise was Arthur  Hovhannisyan. In July of this year, Major-General of Justice Vahagn  Harutyunyan was dismissed from the post of Deputy Head of the  Investigative Committee of Armenia and Head of the Main Directorate  for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases "according to his  own statement". Over the past years, Vahagn Harutyunyan, at meetings  with journalists, repeatedly assured that the case of the events of  March 1, 2008 is being investigated in full.