IT IS PROPOSED APPLYING TO CRIMINOLOGICAL CENTER OF RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF "CHERYOMUKHA" CAPSULES AND GUNS THEY WERE FIRED FROM
Noyan Tapan
Jan 23, 2009
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Assembly Ad Hoc
Committee on Inquiry into March 1-2 Events in Yerevan and their Reasons
will soon file an official letter to the RA prosecutor general and the
Special Investigation Service – with a petition for identification
of the capsules of the "Cheryomukha 7" special weapon that caused
deaths of 3 people during the March events and the "KC23" guns,
from which these capsules were fired.
The petition will request to organize an identification at the
Criminological Center of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Ad Hoc Committee made this decision at the January 23 sitting
convened following a long break, after discussing the results of the
special weapon-related expert examination sent from Russia to the RA
Prosecutor General’s Office. In response to the questions of the RA
Special Investitaion Service, there had been information from "Special
Equipment and Communication" scientific and production enterprise
(Russia) producing "Cheryomukha 7" weapon that the technical features
of out-of-date "Cheryomukha 7" and "Cheryomukha 7-M" gas cartridges
may change and the maximum distance of the release of tear-gas and
the discharge of a tear grenade may decline, but if an out-of-date
weapon is used in accordance with norms, it will not cause damage
to life or health of a person. As regards identification, it was
mentioned that the center is not competent to conduct a ballistics
examination and has no information about the methods for identification
of cartridges and weapons of this kind, and it was proposed to apply
to the Criminological Center of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs
with respect to this issue.
The committee member, chairman of New Times party Aram Karapetian
said in this connection that despite the fact that some Armenian
circles had tried hard to prevent any answer about a possibility of
identification, the expert of the center did not take responsibility
and indicated a place to apply to.
This conclusion was mainly due to the "odyssey" of the letter on
the special weapon that the committee had sent (earlier than the
prosecutor’s office) to the RF deputy minister of internal affairs
Alexander Smirny.
The committee chairman, secretary of the NA "RPA" faction Samvel
Nikoyan informed the committee members that so far no answer
has been received to the letter sent a month ago. In the words of
A. Karapetian who took that letter to Moscow, by his information, a
certain Harutyunian from the RA prosecutor’s office and a high-ranking
police official went to Moscow to prevent an answer to the letter. It
is noteworthy that according to publications of the Armenian press,
the matter concerns the deputy head of the RA Police Armen Yeritsian.