EVIDENCE TO USE OF ARMY ON MARCH 1

The public committee to study March 1 which was created by the opposition published a report on February 18 which dwells on the involvement of the army in the clampdown on the demonstrators. While the member of the committee Vladimir Karapetyan presented the report and video materials, the member of the Armenian National Congress Levon Zurabyan stated that the Armenian National Congress declares there was a military coup on March 1 since the army was used against the citizens. Then Vladimir Karapetyan who is in charge of public affairs of the Armenian National Congress and a member of the committee presented the report of the committee. It is based on studies, information and footages. The footages were screened for reporters. For instance, there was footage of March 1 shot around 2 o’clock, when no disorders had occurred yet and the citizens gathered spontaneously on the square near the statue of Miasnikyan, the riot police withdrew but left their armored car with a machine gun among the demonstrators. The committee states that the purpose was to provoke aggression among the demonstrators, and only the presence of an armored car with a machine gun made the demonstrators think about self-defense, which according to Vladimir Karapetyan, is the “active right” of citizens according to international conventions. As to evidence to the involvement of the army, Vladimir Karapetyan screened footage which displays armed forces in Yerevan before the state of emergency wearing army uniforms. Besides, before the state of emergency the armored car of the military police was at the center of Yerevan, besides the video provided by Reuters shot at about 8 pm on March 1 when the state of emergency was not imposed yet shows the deployment of armored cars in Yerevan. The committee presented more evidence that on March 1 the army was involved in the clampdown, which is a brutal violation of the Armenian Constitution, legislation and international conventions. “This is sufficient evidence that with violation of the Constitution and legislation the ministry of defense was engaged in the clampdown on the unarmed peaceful demonstrators on March 1 before the state of emergency. The ex-president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, the ex-minister of defense Michael Harutiunyan, the head of the general staff Seiran Ohanyan and the chief of the garrison of Yerevan Yuri Khachaturov are accountable for this,” the public committee to study March 1 concludes. Besides, the committee notes that on March 1 deploying part of the army units at the center of Yerevan was a serious challenge to the security of Armenia, which caused the serious clash on the Armenian and Azerbaijani border on March 4, since the defense of the border was weak. The committee also informs that on the upcoming days it will publish information about the use of armed forces in a state of emergency after which the issue will be disputed at the court of law. For this purpose, the public committee to study March 1 urges the human rights defender to dispute the constitutionality of the orders to use the army and the armed forces on March 1 at the Constitutional Court. The committee also asks the fact-finding group to study all the materials on the use of the army and prepare a report on whether the involvement of the army in home political affairs is not a crime defined by Article 300 of the Crime Code. By the way, with regard to the presence of armed forces wearing military uniforms at the center of Yerevan on March 1, Vladimir Karapetyan inquires from the body investigating March 1 if the weapons which those forces carried on that day were examined to find out whether they were used or not, since the victims of March 1 could have been killed from those weapons.

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