ROBERT KOCHARIAN: WHEN SAYING "INDEPENDENT INQUIRY", EUROPEANS MEAN CONDUCTING, FOR EXAMPLE, A PARLIAMENTARY INQURY IN PARALLEL WITH CRIMINAL CASE
Noyan Tapan
March 20, 2008
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, NOYAN TAPAN. When speaking about an independent
inquiry into the March 1 events in Yerevan, Europeans rather
mean conducting, for example, a parliamentary inquiry which
never substitutes the investigation into a criminal case, the
Armenian president Robert Kocharian said at the March 20 press
conference. Whereas, investigation into a criminal case cannot be
conducted in any other way: the case is being investigated by an
independent body – the Special Investigation Service, while the
prosecutor’s office, which is also an independent body, supervises
this investigation.
R. Kocharian underlined that in order to increase trust in the
investigation, the RA prosecutor general’s office has applied to a
number of organizations with the request to assist with invitation
of independent foreign experts. "We also need that. There were 8
victims, and we also want some international experts to reconfirm or
to express their opinion about what the cause of their deaths was,"
the Armenian president said, pointing out that invitation of experts
does not contradict the Armenian legislation, and the opinion of the
experts will be included in the criminal case to go to court.
According to the Armenian president, the law enforcement bodies
are well aware that if there is not enough evidence, the case will
finally go to the European Court of Human Rights. "No one wants
to get into such a situation," R. Kocharian said. In his opinion,
Armenia’s law enforcement system is a credible one, it is another
matter that attemps are constantly made in the press and speeches to
sow people’s distrust of this system.