Armenia`s Prosecutor`s Office intends to reclassify actions of   defendants in case of March 1, 2008

ArmInfo. The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia intends to reclassify the charges against the three  defendants in the case on March 1, 2008 from "overthrow of the constitutional order" to "offense in office." Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan stated  at a meeting of the relevant commission in parliament, presenting details about the progress of the case.

15 years ago, after the next presidential elections held on February  19, which Serzh Sargsyan won, riots broke out in Yerevan, resulting  in clashes with law enforcement officials. The Armenian opposition,  led by first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who also ran in the  elections, has been holding rallies in the center of Yerevan since  February 20, expressing dissatisfaction with the results of the vote.  Protests resulted in riots and clashes between protesters and law  enforcement forces on March 1-2, which resulted in the death of 10  people, including police officers, and over 200 injuries of varying  severity.

In 2021, the court decided to terminate the criminal case regarding  "March 1", since the Constitutional Court declared Article 300.1  (overthrow of the constitutional order) unconstitutional, under which  the second President Robert Kocharyan, former Chief of the General  Staff Yuri Khachaturov and ex-Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan were  charged.

According to Vardapetyan, earlier the Constitutional Court did not  want to consider the Prosecutor General's application to reclassify  the case, pointing out the lack of subjectivity in the case. Now the  supervisory authority has filed a complaint with the Court of  Cassation, asking to find out the position of the Constitutional  Court regarding the possibility of reclassifying the actions of three  former officials as "offense of office."

As for the persons in inter-court proceedings, according to the  Prosecutor General, a reclassification has taken place. "At the  moment, the case is in court and an investigation is underway. It was  sent to court because the person did not agree to terminate the  criminal prosecution on unjustifiable grounds," Vardapetya said.

The Prosecutor General also noted that the investigation into the  case of abuse of power by an investigator of the investigative group  was separated from the proceedings and sent to court with an  indictment on August 12, 2023. "It was sent to court because the  person did not agree to terminate the criminal prosecution on  unjustifiable grounds," Vardapetyan said.

In addition, convictions in approximately 30 cases related to  criminal prosecutions initiated against persons participating in the  events of March 1 were overturned. Acquittals and partial judgments  were issued against one person. "Out of 30 cases, 16 complaints were  filed by the Prosecutor General's Office," noted Anna Vardapetyan.

At the same time, as Vardapetyan indicated, the question of the  expiration of the statute of limitations in the case on March 1 will  still arise. "The difference here lies in the termination of criminal  prosecution on exculpatory and non-exculpatory grounds. We will  simply give the appropriate legal assessment, and why not. We can  also discuss issues related to compensation, because in the event of  termination of proceedings on unfounded grounds, claims may be  brought against the person who caused the consequences through some  other procedures. This gives certain opportunities to victims from a  legal point of view," the Prosecutor General explained.