NO EXTENSION PLANNED FOR STATE OF EMERGENCY IN ARMENIAN CAPITAL
RIA Novosti
March 20 2008
Russia
YEREVAN, March 20 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
has announced that the state of emergency imposed in the country’s
capital, Yerevan, on March 1 will not be extended after it expires
at midnight.
"I can see no reason to extend the state of emergency in Yerevan.
>From tomorrow the capital of our republic will see a normal state
of affairs, not a state of emergency," the outgoing president told
a news conference on Thursday.
Kocharyan declared a state of emergency in Yerevan after protests
over allegedly rigged presidential polls turned violent.
Eight people were killed and over 130 wounded in the city in clashes
between police and supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who was defeated
by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan in the February 19 vote.
Sarkisyan denied earlier this month that the polls were rigged in
his favor, insisting that he had won the presidential elections fairly.
"I believe that I won an honest victory at the presidential elections,
all the more so as I had earlier received the people’s trust at the
parliamentary election [in May 2007]," he said.
Sarkisyan gained 52.8% of the vote against Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s 21.5%.