According to preliminary operative data, the weapons and ammunition that were found at the former mechanic-repair plant actually belonging to ex-Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, in Mkhchyan village of Armenia’s Ararat Province, were used during the events that occurred in capital city Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008.
Artur Vanetsyan, Director of the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia, on Thursday repeated about the abovementioned speaking to reporters.
“Those weapons were used by people who were not included in the law enforcement system,” he noted.
Even though the NSS chief did not mention Abrahamyan, he again pointed out that the said weapons and ammunitions were found in an area which in fact belonged to Abrahamyan and his family.
“I can only say that persons who were bodyguards, ‘supporters,’ and so on participated in the March 1 events,” Vanetsyan added, in particular.
He noted that everything will be cleared as a result of Abrahamyan’s explanation to the SIS, and of the respective investigation.
Also, the NSS chief confirmed that Hovik Abrahamyan is in Armenia.
As reported earlier, a charge has been brought against second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, former Defense Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan, and incumbent Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General and Armenia’s former Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Khachaturov, within the framework of the criminal case into the tragic events that transpired in capital city Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008—and under Article 300.1 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code; that is, breaching Armenia’s constitutional order, in conspiracy with others.
Since Harutyunyan is not in Armenia, a search for him was declared. And on July 27, Khachaturov was released on bail, whereas Kocharyan was remanded in custody for two months by a court decision.
On March 1 and 2, 2008, the then authorities used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the recent presidential election. Eight demonstrators as well as two servicemen of the internal troops were killed in the clashes. But no one had been brought to account for these deaths, to this day.
