March 1 Case Unveiled, Says Pashinyan

The March 1 case has been unveiled. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a meeting with journalists today.

“Yes, our soldiers were brought in, positioned under our windows, and ordered to shoot at our homes. And now they are trying to evade responsibility for that. Yes, it has been uncovered what happened on March 1. Not all circumstances have been fully revealed, partly because the head of the investigative group has falsified evidence; the bullets fired on site were replaced the next day with bullets fired elsewhere. The head of the investigative group has now fled and is hiding from justice,” said Pashinyan.

He also announced that soldiers were used as mercenaries, paid for with money collected from oligarchs. “Our soldier has been turned into a mercenary against us in our own country. This is the essence of March 1. And this was done to keep a power that was seized from the people,” he stated.

Regarding the uncovering of the murders of the victims of March 1, Pashinyan noted that for that, evidence covered up over the past 10 years must first be revealed. It is worth recalling that after the 2008 presidential elections in Armenia, on February 24, the Central Electoral Commission announced that Serzh Sargsyan had won. For days, participants in a protest rally, supporters of presidential candidate and Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, demanded a recount of the votes.

On the night of March 1, police forces conducted operational-investigative actions in Freedom Square “to check the area” and removed thousands of protesters from the square. In the evening of March 1, the armed forces and police units carried out special operations in the central streets of Yerevan to disperse the protesters using weapons, explosives, and special means. As a result, hundreds of people were injured, and 8 civilians and 2 police officers lost their lives.

The criminal case, which remained unsolved for 10 years, gained new momentum in the Investigative Committee after the Velvet Revolution. On June 3, charges were brought against the former Minister of Defense Mikayel Harutyunyan, and a search for him was announced. The second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, was summoned for questioning as a witness. On July 26, 2018, after questioning, Robert Kocharyan was charged and arrested. Charges have also been brought against the Secretary-General of the CSTO, Yuri Khachaturov, who has been released on bail.