Statement from the Relatives of Victims of the March 1st Massacre

Prominent lawyer Vahe Grigoryan has shared a statement on his Facebook page from the relatives of the victims of the March 1, 2008 massacre, which is presented in full below.

“We, the relatives of the victims of the March 1st massacre, are outraged by the filming of 'Case No. March 1' and its broadcast by 'H5' television. This film is an output built on deception, distortion of facts, manipulation, and demagoguery, with the obvious goal of exonerating Robert Kocharyan from the responsibility and complicity in the March 1st massacre.

Our constant position has been that those who committed the murders must be held accountable, but prior to that, those who gave the orders and those who commanded or permitted the use of weapons on that day must also be held accountable.

We consider it immoral to extract interviews from some of us and other participants of the film under the pretext that the film crew, sympathizing with the victims of repression, wanted to reveal the full truth about the repression and killings by obtaining eyewitness testimonies. The reality is, however, that both our words and those of some other participants in the film have undergone directorial and unethical editing, which has inverted our messages and distorted their meaning, while important information provided by some has been concealed.

By exploiting our emotions and trust, we were filmed and displayed in a documentary that, from beginning to end, preaches the so-called innocence of the leaders of the government and armed groups of 2008. But after all, he was the head of state and the commander of those individuals who had weapons in their hands that day, which were used to kill our loved ones. No other high-ranking police officer, military personnel, or political figure who led those who used weapons at the scene has answered any question related to the slaughter of our loved ones. And the main commander of all these individuals at the time continues to evade providing explanations on this issue through various tricks. This is a very important and decisive circumstance for us.

Watching the film broadcast on 'H5' television, we relived our humiliations, cynical contempt, and the hopelessness injected into us since 2008 when the power turned us into victims of politically repressive cases.

By all possible means, they sought to guide us against those who neither had weapons, nor killed, nor gave orders to kill. Meanwhile, it has now become clear that during this time, the authorities were falsifying evidence that would lead to the revelation of the murders.

This is the first time we publicly make such a statement and remind that until today we have patiently endured our pain in silence. By involving us in such an immoral way in this film, it feels as though we are being dragged back to the brutal 2008 all over again, hence we can no longer remain silent.

The struggle of our people for freedom and democracy is exclusively presented in the film as mass disorder, while the victims subjected to repression by an authoritarian regime are portrayed as criminals and thieves. By presenting our unlawfully and brutally murdered children as criminals, the film crew has not only disrespected their memory and insulted our feelings, but has also discredited our people's struggle for freedom and democracy.

We condemn the shameless attempts of the film’s creators to collect political dividends for Robert Kocharyan on the blood of our children as the utmost cynicism and fraud. We accuse the filmmakers, financiers, broadcasters, and any media that continues to distribute this content as being complicit in all of this.

Through this statement, we ask mass media and our compatriots to respect the grief of the families of the victims of the March 1st massacre by not disseminating or broadcasting this film. We do not wish to engage in legal defense because we consider the moral aspect of the issue to be more important than the legal one.

In the legal realm, we will pursue our interests and rights with more determination in a more important process—the trial of those who organized and carried out the March 1st massacre, which we hope will one day take place.

Ms. Rouzana Harutyunyan (mother of the deceased Tigran Abgaryan)
Mr. Vachagan Farmanyan (father of the deceased Armen Farmanyan)
Ms. Lilia Minasyan (widow of the deceased Hovhannes Hovhannisyan)
Mr. Hovsep Khachatryan (father of the deceased Tigran Khachatryan)
Ms. Gemma Vardumyan (mother of the deceased Davit Petrosyan)
Mr. Sargis Kloyan (father of the deceased Gor Kloyan)
Mr. Edik Harutyunyan (father of the deceased Samvel Harutyunyan)
Ms. Varduhi Baghdasaryan (widow of the deceased Grigor Gevorgyan)
Ms. Mariam Hovhannisyan (sister of the deceased Zakhar Hovhannisyan),” the statement said.