Although in August 2018 at Republic Square, Nikol Pashinyan announced, “In fact, we can say that the March 1 case is, in fact, fully disclosed,” the Armenian National Congress recently published an assessment. “In terms of overcoming the aftermath of the March 1 crime, today we are in the same situation as before 2018. The crime remains unsolved, the organizers and perpetrators of the crime go unpunished.”
The guests of Aravot’s “Areresum (Confrontation)” program, the head of the Helsinki Association Nina Karapetyants and the member of the ANC board, the head of the party’s legal affairs committee Armen Khachatryan first referred to these assessments.
Here are a few quotes from the discussion.
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Armen Khachatryan. “If before the revolution it was clear to the Armenian National Congress and every interested citizen that March 1 would not be revealed during the previous regime, as the former regime was one of the main beneficiaries of March 1, and then we had no expectations, after 2018, we had at least that expectation and confidence that the government will have the political will to turn the page of March 1 as a result of legal processes. After almost 4 years, we are in a situation where no case is being considered in court regarding the organization of March 1 or the direct executors. We have a situation where only 20 of the hundreds of victims of political persecution from 2008-2010 were acquitted. We have a situation where hundreds of investigators and prosecutors who sewed those fake criminal cases and judges who concluded those criminal cases, made guilty verdicts․․․ We do not have a criminal assessment for anyone. So, in this whole context, there was no revelation in the March 1 case. Moreover, the case has entered such a deadlock, from which no law enforcement or judicial structure can find a solution to get out of it legally.”
Nina Karapetyants․ “I do not agree that we are in the same situation as before 2018. We are in a worse situation. In one of the criminal cases, which was brought to court with great pathos in connection with the failure of the constitutional order, we had a failure in the true sense of the word. It was announced in court that they are acquitted on the basis of the absence of a crime. Such a thing did not happen even during Serzh Sargsyan’s administration. We are in a situation where many legal avenues for further liability, in accordance with the letter of the law, have simply been closed. Oh, for that we needed that unfortunate, much-discussed transitional justice and political assessment that we were waiting for, which would allow us to work with slightly different tools․․․ This is the most horrible thing this government has done, let alone the systems that were to blame and they should have been held accountable, they should have felt just zero punishment and as a result they should have become much more uncontrollable.”
Armen Khachatryan. “At some point, the March 1 case became the subject of political manipulations and was used for political reasons. The same manipulation turned one force into a ruling political force, brought another force, made it the biggest opposition. That is, the topic of March 1 was stripped of its morality by those two forces… I do not understand how the ruling political force can overcome the crisis in the Constitutional Court (one of the reasons was that from the beginning there was a fear that the Constitutional Court might overthrow the March 1 case). After the reform, a constitutional court was created, which defeated the March 1 case by 8 votes. I can not help but suspect that the Constitutional Court acted on the direct orders of the government in making the famous decision of March 26 (the Constitutional Court declared Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code to overturn the constitutional order, which charged the second president Robert Kocharyan and his two former subordinates, Deputy Minister of Defense Yuri Khachaturov in 2008 and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Seyran Ohanyan – edit) I think we are dealing with a political symbiosis, that is why I say that the decision was political. The candidate for power needed a target, against which he should get 54% of votes by waving a hammer. With what message should the defeated leader of the defeated government come to the pre-election campaign? You can not say anything logical.
Nina Karapetyants. “I think that there was pressure from abroad and a lot of pressure from Russia. Those “chemical ties” were not accidental (answering Vladimir Solovyov’s question in 2018, “In what year of your acquaintance with Vladimir Putin could you say that he is your friend?”, Robert Kocharyan said: “Particularly during the second year I noticed chemistry between us.” – edit), sending birthday greetings to the head of the penitentiary․․․ If so much was visible to the public, ordinary citizens, how invisible was it?”
The guests of Areresum also referred to the case when Armenia, as the country holding the CSTO chairmanship, activated the mechanisms of that organization during the demonstrations in Kazakhstan, and Hayk Alumyan, a member of Kocharyan’s advocacy group, published questions. “The RA Armed Forces cannot be used in the RA to prevent mass armed riots. However, they can be used for the same purpose in Kazakhstan. On the other hand, mass armed riots can be organized in Armenia (it is even welcome), but not in Kazakhstan. They are completely different situations, it cannot be compared,” Nina Karapetyants objected, arguing her assertion.
Anna ISRAELYAN
