WHAT HINDERS THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE
Gevorg Harutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
30 Oct 08
Armenia

Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan met with the members
of the NA Interim Committee Investigating the March 1 developments
and their Causes.

Besides getting acquainted with the process of the committee’s
activity Hovik Abrahamyan also wanted to clarify: "in what way did
any state service or administration hinder or cooperate with the
works of the Interim Committee. And how can the National Assembly
assist the process of the investigation of March 1-2 developments."

The Chairman of the Committee Samvel Nikoyan didn’t hide that very
often they appear in helpless situations. "We are beaten and criticized
from all the sides. There is also negative attitude towards us,
and lack of information regarding our activity. Whereas, it is not
party or political issues that we are solving now. Our task is of
state-national significance and we must be able to stand above all
the other interests and invest all the opportunities for the proper
implementation of that task."

The Committee has all the necessary documents to carry out a more
detailed investigation of the events that took place on March 1 in
the Theatrical Square. And the fact-finding group, which will be set
up by the instruction of the country’s President, can find new facts
during its activity.

"We need documents and video-records from the law enforcers to conduct
a more proper investigation of the developments that followed the
events which took place in the morning of March 1, as well as the
adequacy of the police activity and to estimate the behavior of the
demonstrators and their leaders. Unfortunately I must underscore
that only 10% of the video-records have been received from the state
bodies."

Samvel Nikoyan also conveyed the general picture of the circumstances
hindering the process of the committee’s activity to NA Speaker:
"At the moment we are facing problems with the clarification of the
circumstances of the 10 death cases, because regrettably the inquest
body doesn’t have answers to lots of questions. By familiarizing
ourselves with the techniques used by the inquest and expert bodies
I understood that it is not a consequence of a clear attitude."

Naira Zohrabyan who represents "Bargavach Hayastan" Party in the
NA Interim Committee spoke about the necessity of setting up a
fact-finding group, but she said there are certain reservations.

"There is concern about the cooperation of the NA Interim Committee
and the fact-finding group. The Committee must listen to those
high-ranking officials who used to hold positions and are holding
now and who had relationship with the March 1-2 developments, but the
committee doesn’t have this competence. It is also strange that the
police don’t possess any video records of March 1 developments. So
we have to make use of other video-records the reliability of which
must be checked only by international expert examination.

Artsvik Minasyan who represents ARFD faction in the Committee
considered it important to clarify the essence of the request addressed
to the NA Speaker by his colleagues: "We have formed a list of 19
persons and we ask for your assistance to get their response to the
invitation of the Committee.

The first and the second Presidents, the ex Chief of the Police and
many other officials, as well as opposition leaders, those who were
on the platform of the demonstrations and delivered speeches near
the French Embassy and organized those events are included in this
list. We need mechanisms to invite the eyewitnesses, on the condition
of maintaining the confidentiality. We also expect the assistance of
all the Parliamentary forces, which by now didn’t show any assistance
to the works of the Committee."

The Human Rights Defender Armen Harutyunyan also participated. He
considered the unsatisfactory and non-operative cooperation of the
state institutions the main obstacle of the Committee’s activity:
"The absence of the pro-oppositional forces doesn’t have as much bad
impact on the reputation of the Committee as the improper participation
of the state bodies, which is considered a manifestation of a political
will. In this issue the Committee really needs assistance."

After observing all the concerns and proposals heard in all the
speeches NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan said: "We must underscore that
March 1-2 developments had the most negative impact on the ruling
power. The latter was absolutely not interested in such course of
events. But the radical opposition is doing its best to convince that
it is the ruling power that has organized it, which is nonsense.

Our task is to reveal the truth. The country’s President, the
government, the National Assembly, and the law enforcers pursue the
same goal. Which is why we are ready to fulfill any clever proposal."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress