OVER 100 ARRESTED FOLLOWING REVOLT IN YEREVAN – PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE

Interfax News Agency
March 18 2008
Russia

More than a hundred people have been arrested during the investigation
into the March 1 and 2 unrest in Yerevan.

"At the present time, 106 people have been arrested and three others
detained in Yerevan under this criminal case," Armenian Prosecutor
General’s Office spokesperson Sona Truzian told Interfax on Tuesday.

As many as 879 people have been taken to the police, and 754 of them
have already been released, she said.

Among the 106 arrestees are people implicated in illegal acquisition
and storage of weapons, Truzian said. The investigation into the
matter will soon be completed, and five cases were passed to courts
on Tuesday, she said.

There are no women or minors among the suspects, she said.

Following presidential elections in Armenia on February 19, in which
Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan was officially declared the winner,
supporters of another candidate, first Armenian President Levon Ter-
Petrosian, who came in second, started mass protests in Yerevan.

On the morning of March 1, police dispersed a rally in Yerevan,
but Ter-Petrosian’s supporters gathered at another place near the
city hall.

By the evening of March 1, the protests grew into a mass revolt, in
which eight people were killed and more than 200 injured, according
to official reports. The same day, President Robert Kocharian imposed
a 20- day state of emergency in the city.

The Armenian special investigative service opened a criminal case
into mass unrest. People arrested under this case have been indicted
for fomenting mass disorder, illegally storing or carrying weapons,
attempting to usurp power, and other crimes.