Sasun Khachatryan says March 1 case solved

YEREVAN, Nov. 1. /ARKA/. The March 1 case has been solved, the head of Armenia's Anti-Corruption Committee Sasun Khachatryan said on Wednesday.

Ten people, including two security officers, were killed when Armenian authorities used force on March 1-2, 2008, to suppress ongoing opposition demonstrations protesting the results of a disputed presidential election.

According to the investigation, the victims died of different causes, including gunshot wounds, injuries from fragments of tear gas canisters and blunt objects.

"Both those who gave the order and those who violated the constitutional order have been indicted. It would be incorrect to talk about it after the decision of the Constitutional Court," Khachatryan told reporters in the National Assembly, urging them to read the indictment on the case.

Speaking about the termination of criminal prosecution against former deputy commander of the police forces Gegham Petrosyan, who was accused for the deliberate deprivation of life of Zakar Hovhannisyan as part of the criminal case, Khachatryan, in particular, noted, "this is a normal phenomenon."

The case dates back to late February and early March 2008 following the disputed presidential election, when then prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was declared the winner, angering the opposition, led by the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and setting off 10 days of nonstop protests that led to a crackdown on March 1, in which 10 people were killed and more than 200 injured. -0-