The fact-finding group was not politicized

And its findings on 10 killings were more than Special Investigation Service, thinks lawyer Seda Safaryan, a member of that group.

Last week John Prescott and Axel Fischer, rapporteurs on Armenia at the Monitoring Committee of the PACE put forward 18-page report entitled “The functioning of democratic institutions in Armenia”. In the explanatory memorandum of that report the co-rapporteurs criticized March 1 Parliamentary Inquiry Committee for the placing of “the blame for the polarized political climate” solely on the opposition forces, especially on those supporting Levon Ter-Petrossian. At the same time they criticized also the independent fact-finding group, as the latter “seem to focus on procedural mistakes and errors by the responsible investigation services rather than on establishing clarity with regard to the circumstances of these 10 deaths.”
Seda Safaryan’s reaction to the critique of the fact-finding group in the report made by the co-rapporteurs was not admitting that critique. She stressed that when the March 1 case investigation is conducted with errors, it is also a violation that should not have been committed and that had an impact on not establishing the circumstances of deaths. “However, we made important references and findings in our report, what conclusions did the co-rapporteurs make from that? I have the impression that the co-rapporteurs aim at defending our establishment, destroying the results of our fact-finding mission and basically not appreciating those. I think what we wrote was reasoned’, said Mrs. Safaryan.
Seda Safaryan also denied the accusation that the work of the fact-finding group was politicized, “I have never been politicized. If the co-rapporteurs, saying “politicized”, mean that the political forces assigned us to work in the group or we, the two members of the opposition, prepared the lion’s share of the reports, I cannot explain such position of the rapporteurs. However, I myself have never pursued political goals in the group, the Heritage Party I represented neither interfered in my work, nor gave me any instructions. I was politically neutral in the group, I was inclined to call all three presidents of Armenia and interrogate them to find out the extent of their participation in March 1 events and the level of their political responsibility.”
 “As I know, there is no clear commentary in Prescott’s and Fischer’s report which part and circumstance of the fact-finding group report made the co-rapporteurs think that we were politicized. If there is none, then, please, let them not speak without facts”, added Seda Safaryan. As to the work done by the fact-gathering group to establish the circumstances of 10 deaths, Mrs. Safaryan admitted that the group did not come very close to uncovering, because “they did not let us come too close”. “However, I think we did quite much to establish the circumstances of the deaths of 4-5 people – Tigran Abgaryan, Hamlet Tadevosyan – who died because of “Cheryomukha-7”. We did not manage to establish the circumstances of the other deaths; we were dissolved. From that perspective, I admit our work of establishing the circumstances of the deaths was insufficient.”