Second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan’s lawyer Hayk Alumyan told reporters about what happened on the morning of March 1st. “There was a prior agreement with the police that they should not show any violence towards the protesters. They had received information about how some protesters had weapons. Violence and rough activities were not planned, but protesters threw rocks at and resisted the police, so the police needed to show force and disperse the protesters. Robert Kocharyan found out about these developments in the morning when he came to work. He wrote about this in his book.”
According to Hayk Alumyan, it was not previously planned that the police needed to fight with protesters on Freedom Square. “Even the body dealing with this case does not believe that Kocharyan gave the order to use force against protesters. That is why he is not accused of it.”
When asked who gave the order to the police in the morning to use force, Alumyan said that he is not aware.
Mass protests were held in Armenia after the presidential elections in 2008. The protests were organized by the supporters of the first President of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian. During the protest held on March 1, 2008, clashes broke out between police and protesters. Then-President Robert Kocharyan declared a 20-day state of emergency.
Luiza Sukiasyan
