13 September 2008, 14:05
Armenian Ombudsman calls to examine the film about March 1 events
Armen Arutyunyan, Ombudsman of Armenia, has called the temporary parliamentary commission in charge of investigating the events of March 1 to scrutinize the facts presented in the film prepared by the public commission for studying the events on March 1, and if necessary, to take measures to examine the film for defining its authenticity.
The Ombudsman has also drawn attention to the tough actions of power agents shown in the film.
According to Armen Arutyunyan, should the authenticity of certain episodes of the film prove to be true, an investigation should be started with the aim to bring to responsibility all the persons who gave orders to illegal actions, and also the direct executors of these actions.
We remind you that on September 10 the public commission for investigating March 1 events presented its first report, according to which all the responsibility for these events should be born by Robert Kocharyan.
The authors of the report express their conviction that the authorities had staged the tragedy, in which 10 persons died and about 200 were wounded, with the aim to bury the falsified election totals, to suppress the wave of national anger and to suspend mass protest actions, which followed the numerous falsifications of the February 19 presidential election.
The session also watched a 27-minute film about events on March 1, produced by the public commission. It is seen from the film that the units of Armed Forces took part in operations against the opposition in Yerevan already in the afternoon on March 1, that is, prior to introduction of the state of emergency, which is against the Constitution of the country. The film shows quite clearly that at the presence of the police, young men in civilian clothes received firearms.
Author: Lilit Ovanisyan, CK correspondent