ArmInfo. The events of March 1, 2008 should become the basis for a legal assessment of what happened 17 years ago. This was stated to journalists by RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on March 1.
He noted that he had never said before that the crime had been fully solved. Nevertheless, according to the Prime Minister, the events of that period may become the basis for another investigation. To a large extent, the delays in the investigations are due to personnel issues.
Pashinyan recalled that a new leadership of the Investigative Committee had recently been appointed, a competition had been announced to fill the vacant position of Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee, and before that there had been discussions on the candidacy of the Prosecutor General. "Full disclosure of that crime was and is one of the important tasks that were set by him," the head of government said.
In fact, as Pashinyan noted, pressure was exerted on citizens 17 years ago with the use of force and the involvement of the army, armed criminal elements, which led to murders. This fact, as the Prime Minister noted, should receive a legal assessment from law enforcement agencies. He noted that cases should be solved exactly as much as possible.
"Here we are once again dealing with the system of public administration. Should I take on the disclosure of this case or not? If we want this regulation to move in this logic, let's change this regulation. In any case, this problem continues to be in the center of attention of the new heads of investigative bodies," Nikol Pashinyan said.
On March 1, 2008, after the regular presidential elections held on February 19, in which Serzh Sargsyan won, riots broke out in Yerevan, resulting in clashes with law enforcement officials. The Armenian opposition, led by the first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who also ran in the elections, held rallies in the center of Yerevan from February 20, expressing dissatisfaction with the results of the vote. The protests turned into riots and clashes between protesters and law enforcement on March 1-2, resulting in 10 deaths, including police officers, and over 200 injuries of varying severity.
On August 17, 2018, Nikol Pashinyan stated that the case of the events of March 1-2, 2008 in Yerevan had been fully resolved. "I will repeat once again and say this with full responsibility: there is no option for any of the criminals, their leaders, to escape responsibility. There is no such option," he emphasized.
However, that so far none of the responsible persons have been punished for that crime