ANC AND ZHARANGUTIUN: ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES HAVE SUSPENDED ACTIVITY OF FACT-FINDING COMMITTEE ON MARCH 1 EVENTS

NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 5, 2009
YEREVAN

"The Armenian authorities terrified of the sensational revelations of
the fact-finding committee on the March 1 events on May 4 factually
suspended committee’s activity." Armenian National Congress (ANC)
Coordinator Levon Zurabian stated at the May 5 joint press conference
with Zharangutiun (Heritage) party Board member Stepan Safarian.

S. Safarian said that from May 4 Zharangutiun and ANC representatives
involved in the fact-finding committee were prohibited to enter the
National Assembly, where the committee acted. According to S. Safarian,
near the entrance to the NA the two opposition representatives of the
fact-finding committee were told that committee’s other three memebers,
representatives of the coalition and Ombudsman, have taken leave for
an unknown time.

L. Zurabian said that leave is only a pretext to suspend
fact-finding committee’s activity. In his words, the authorities
got afraid especially of the committee’s revelations regarding the
death circumstances of one of the March 1 victims, Police officer
Hamlet Tedevosian. L. Zurabian reminded that the facts presented in
fact-finding committee’s first report published some days ago prove
that H. Tadevosian died not from the grenade thrown by demonstrants
but from the explosion of the grenade he held in his hand. The ANC
Coordinator stressed that Samvel Nikoyan, the Chairman of the NA
Ad-hoc Committee on Events Occurred on 1 March and Their Reasons,
also had that information, but he did not present it to the public
for a whole week.

ANC and Zharangutiun made a statement mentioning inadmissibility of
stopping the investigation of the 2008 March 1 events. They demand
that the authorities not suspend the public investigation of the
mentioned events.