Two-and-a-half years after the revolution, we are in a situation where we still don’t know who killed the 10 citizens during the events of March 1, 2008, who ordered to execute the demonstrators on the street and how they died. This is what independent deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia Taguhi Tovmasyan told reporters today.
“During this period, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Special Investigation Service would constantly assure that several wanted people are hindering revelation of the case of the events of March 1, 2008 and that they will summon those people, but we saw that the Special Investigation Service isn’t accepting the people who say they are ready to testify. It turns out that there are many people who left Armenia and declared that they were politically persecuted and tried to prove it with their statements, and former Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan was one of those people,” Tovmasyan said.
According to Member of Parliament Taguhi Tovmasyan, Interpol rejected the Armenian authorities’ request to issue a red notice for ex-official Gevorg Kostanyan. Citing documents which she said were the paperwork sent by the Interpol General Secretariat to the Interpol National Bureau in Armenia, Tovmasyan claimed that the motion of the Armenian authorities was turned down because it contradicted Article 3 of the Interpol Constitution, which states: “It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”
“This means that Kostanyan’s case was considered to be political and the information about this person was withdrawn from the Interpol database. However, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Special Investigation Service would constantly declare that they have declared a search for Kostanyan,” Tovmasyan told reporters, adding that the two institutions have lied to the public all this time.
“I believe there has to be a direct legal consequence, and yes, those responsible need to be held criminally liable because Armenia can’t have such an embarrassing document, while those people are in liberty,” she said and noted that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declares that the case of the events of March 1, 2008 isn’t being revealed because people have left the country.