Clarifications from the Head of the Special Investigative Service on the Events of March 1 and Robert Kocharyan

The Head of the Special Investigative Service, Sasun Khachatryan, believes that the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, remaining at liberty could obstruct the revelation of the truth in the criminal case. According to Armenpress, Khachatryan stated this during a conversation with journalists.

“About 15 days ago, the Special Investigative Service again submitted a motion to the court to extend the period of keeping Kocharyan in custody. That decision was made by the courts, and higher judicial authorities have also unanimously concluded that our motion is justified and there is a danger that, remaining at liberty, Kocharyan will obstruct the pre-investigation,” emphasized Khachatryan.

Moreover, he stated in the same conversation that the armed forces were involved in the events of March 1, 2008, before the declaration of the state of emergency. This was in response to claims made by Robert Kocharyan and his defense team.

“The armed forces were involved under secret order number 0038, starting from February 23. The state of emergency was declared on March 1,” said Khachatryan.

There are still no defendants for the murders committed on March 1, 2008. Journalists asked Khachatryan why it has not been possible to identify those responsible for the murders until now.

“You know, we have credible evidence that at least 1,000 assault rifle cartridges have been exchanged, as well as at least 32 cartridges of the ‘Makarov’ type pistols have been changed. In other words, physical evidence has been exchanged according to the evidence we have,” Khachatryan mentioned.

According to him, the former head of the investigative group is being charged in connection to all of this.

“At the moment, we do not have such a case under our jurisdiction,” Khachatryan stated when asked about the investigation regarding the April War during today’s briefing.

Journalists reminded that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that he had read dozens and hundreds of pages of documents regarding the known advancements of the enemy during the war. Khachatryan replied that he would not comment on that statement.

He added that the Special Investigative Service does not currently have any functions concerning those statements.