As www.aravot.am has already informed, it is mentioned about the investigation of 10 deaths of March 1, 2011, in the information note about the PACE Co-Rapporteur on Armenia John Prescott’s visit to Yerevan on January 16-17 discussed by the Monitoring Committee. Mentioning the order of the president of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, on April 20, 2011, to examine again and more thoroughly the events of 2008, the co-rapporteurs mention that in order to enjoy the Armenian population’s trust toward such an investigation, they offered the president of the Republic of Armenia to guarantee that the investigation is made as a public inquiry, in which first of all the relatives of victims o f the events of March 1 will be involved.
Andranik Kocharyan, a former member of the Fact-Gathering Group of Experts examining the events of March 1, talking about this offer of the co-rapporteurs during a conversation with www.aravot.am, said at first that the document or co-rapporteurs had not explained what public inquiry was. “Perhaps those who make that offer, Prescott knows what it is, because in European countries where public opinion is very necessary to make decisions, public inquiries have legal effects and perhaps they make that offer of public inquiry given that fact. Public inquiries in Armenia have been factually made. Public inquiries have been made for four years in press, in publications, during various events, as well as in the reports of the Fact-Gathering Group and they have had no effect. Also the law-enforcement bodies have conducted an investigation, which neither solved any issue, nor gave an answer to any question. So, the so-called public inquiry is not comprehensible for me in case of Armenia,” stated Andranik Kocharyan.
He reminded that as early as a few months before when the establishment had continued to do everything it could have done not to reveal the events of March 1, when the Special Investigation Service (SIS) had not fulfilled Serzh Sargsyan’s assurance about not turning over the page of March 1 and had made a “disgraceful” intermediate report, he had stated that the relatives of victims and our public were left with no choice, but to make a public trial in Freedom Square quickly and in a self-organized manner. “I saw the means for revealing the events of March 1 through conducting a public trial. Public discussions, I repeat, have taken place for four years and have had no real effect,” noted Andranik Kocharyan.
In response to our question, he said that he didn’t associate the idea of the co-rapporteurs to conduct a public inquiry with the Fact-Gathering Group or its functions, “However, if the same Prescott or Fischer are told that public discussions have taken place for years and haven’t had any effect and that we see the solution in a public trial, perhaps then they will understand that there is a sense in it. One can perform normal justice through public trial and show the world by it that there is no justice in Armenia today and the people, given the country’s Constitution, can and are able to conduct such a process.”
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In the document made public by the PACE, the co-rapporteurs also convey that President Serzh Sargsyan said that he was open to discuss their offers and had asked Davit Harutyunyan to prepare a conception to hold public hearings on the results of the criminal investigation, “At the same time, he expressed his concerns about the fact that this issue had become politicized and could be used for political purposes, particularly in the context of the May 6, 2012, parliamentary election. Therefore, we offer to set the time for meeting so as the possibility of using it for the purposes of pre-election propaganda is minimized.” Talking about this observation, Andranik Kocharyan asked rhetoric questions, “Where will the public hearings be held? In what format they will be? What will be their results? I repeat, many hearings, many publications of facts have been made on the events of March 1 and they have been neglected by the authorities and competent bodies and no issue has been solved on the political stage as a result of that. All of those are imitative slogans again, which don’t solve any issue. In my opinion, justice based on the existing facts – and those are of huge amount – should be carried out at the initiative of either the people or the relatives of victims and political forces in the manner of a public trial or all those hearings and public discussions are pointless, because they will have no legal impact, particularly given the fact that the SIS has never used the facts made public during that public inquiry or hearings in the preliminary investigation properly.”
Naira MAMIKONYAN
