SCORES ARRESTED, CONVICTED IN CONNECTION WITH MARCH RIOTS IN YEREVAN – PROSECUTOR GENERAL

Interfax News Agency
June 16 2008
Russia

Armenia’s Prosecutor General Agvan Ovsepyan on Monday informed
co-reporters of the PACE Monitoring Commission George Colombier and
John Prescott about the situation with the arrests that followed the
March 1 riots in Yerevan.

"A total of 115 people were arrested in connection with the riots.

At present, 17 people are in custody and 78 criminal cases against
88 persons have been sent to courts," the Prosecutor General’s press
secretary Sona Truzyan quoted Ovsepyan as saying.

"As of June 16, 35 people have been convicted, 14 have received prison
terms of between 1 and 5 years, 35 have been put on probation, 3 have
been acquitted, 64 have pleaded guilty and testified," Ovsepyan said.

More than 200 policemen, including high-ranking officers, have been
interrogated since March to establish what led to human casualties
and whether the use of force to disperse the riots was justified.