KARABAKH SUB-UNITS DID NOT TAKE PART IN MARCH 1 EVENTS, SASHA AFYAN CLAIMS
Noyan Tapan
Au g 5, 2008
YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The police operations in Liberty Square
on the morning of March 1 were aimed at conducting an on-the-spot
search for arms and ammuntion, there was no purpose to disperse the
demonstrators and remove the tents, Deputy Head of the RA Police,
Major General Sasha Afyan stated at a sitting of the the Committee on
Inquiry into the March 1-2 Events. In his words, during the operation,
based on the operative situation, a decision was made to take other
actions. The police representative said that 100-130-strong operative
police forces carried out this operative action – search. S. Afyan
denied the rumors that a sub-unit was brought from Karabakh to carry
out this operation. Responding to the question of a member of the
Committee who said that police refer to some video materials showing
that the clashes were started by demonstrators and then the Committee
member asked if there is video material to show that it was police
that started clashes, S. Afyan said: "If such a video exists, let
them present it".
In response to Committee members’ question about whether there were
witnesses to the on-the-spot search, S. Afyan said that "all the
demonstrators were witnesses by themselves". When responding to a
number of other questions: why the search began 50-60 minutes after
the hour scheduled for that operation, why, according to the video
material, the policemen touched the arms and ammunition found in the
square with their bare hands, S. Afyan found it difficult to give
answers, saying that he is responsible for keeping the public order,
and it is the heads of the services that carried out that police
operation and on-the-spot search who can answer questions related
to the operative actions. It was decided to invite the executives of
these services to the next sitting of the Committee.