TER-PETROSIAN DECLARES THAT ORGANIZED SLAUGHTER WAS COMMITTED AGAINST
PEOPLE ON MARCH 1

YEREVAN, MAY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. "The March 1 events were not clashes
between people and police, as Kocharian-Sargsian propoganda wants to
present, but the organized slaughter of the people," the leader of the
opposition, first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian declared at
the 2nd congress of the National Movements on May 2.

In his words, in Armenia Robert Kocharian was the only person capable
of ordering to open fire on peaceful demonstrators. As for Serge
Sargsian, Ter-Petrosian said that S. Sargsian formally had no relation
to that order but he as president elect was obliged not to allow
Kocharian to take such a step.

L. Ter-Petrosian said that Serge Sargsian can prove his innocence by
ensuring an independent and transparent inquiry into the March 1
events, "otherwise the blame for those bloody events will lie on S.
Sargsian for a hundred years".

The first Armenian president spoke about the press conferences that R.
Kocharian held on March 1st, 5th and 20th, during which there were
obvious contradictions in statements of R. Kocharian. Thus, before
imposing a state of emergency, R. Kocharian announced that troops were
not armed with fire-arms, but in this case how did it happen that 7
citizens died after receiving gunshot wounds and several policemen were
wounded before the state of emergency. Another question that
Ter-Petrosian put to R. Kocharian is that there has never been a case
in any country when 3,000-4,000-strong police went to make a search.
According to him, the main goal of Kocharian-Sargsian propaganda is to
avoid responsibility for March 1 bloody events and to do everything in
order to put the blame for this crime on the opposition.

Ter-Petrssian added that over a thousand people were taken to police
but none was charged with using fire-arms. "The citizens who fired from
guns were never found," he said.