Sasna Tsrer Calls to Cancel March 1 Rally Due to Coronavirus Threat

The Secretariat of the Sasna Tsrer pan-Armenian party has issued a statement calling for the cancellation of the March 1 rally due to the threat of coronavirus. The statement reads:

"Considering the real threat posed by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, we deem the call by the current government to organize a mass rally on March 1 as irresponsible and extremely dangerous for national security. Overall, irresponsible behavior has become a defining characteristic of the current authorities. In their verbal statements, they acknowledge that since the events of March 1, 2008, it has become evident that the regime, which has persistently usurped power through election fraud, has entirely undermined the constitutional order, seized the state, and transformed it into a terrorist machine used against the state and its people. However, they refuse to officially register this as a legal-political assessment through a decision of the National Assembly of Armenia and to take consequent actions.

Soon, it will be two years since the government claims the case of March 1 has been unveiled, yet the perpetrators of the murders remain unknown. Only Robert Kocharyan and a few of his accomplices have faced incomplete and flawed charges in court, turning the trial into a mockery and delaying proceedings while awaiting the revenge in which they are also participating. The other main criminal, Serzh Sargsyan, is merely an actor in a separate judicial presentation regarding fuel, which is likely to conclude with a pardon.

However, the crown and glory of the current irresponsible governance are the parallel trials of Robert Kocharyan and his accomplices, who have overthrown the constitutional order, and the Sasna Tsrer, who rebelled to restore it. The absurdity becomes even more pronounced when the same prosecutor in the same courtroom on different days argues seriously that the constitutional order has been overthrown one day, and the next day considers the compromised situation as legitimate, accusing the Sasna Tsrer from the opposite position.

We consider it dishonest behavior when Nikol Pashinyan sits at state and feast tables with the perpetrators of the March 1 massacre, then invites the public and the relatives of the victims to the rally.

On this occasion, we extend our deep condolences to the relatives of the victims of March 1 and to our entire nation. We are confident that, with or without the current authorities, the crisis of justice will be overcome in the near future, and finally, the dawn of March 2 will break."