Author: Lena Karagyozian

The government has reduced the term of office of the Yerevan City Council.

The snap elections of the Yerevan City Council will be held on the date set by the Central Electoral Commission.

“These are the first elections of such scale during our government, and we hope we all understand that these elections should be unique in terms of legality, transparency and justice”, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, stating that ensuring the freedom of elections, democracy and legality is a priority for the government led by him.

“I want to once again state that the issues are very clearly formulated: the groups engaged in electoral frauds have nothing to do in these elections, but if it turns out that according to them they have something to do, time for the quick, drastic and effective actions by the law enforcement agencies will come. No case of electoral bribe should be registered during these elections, or no person trying to give electoral bribe should be left without being accountable”, the PM said, stating that any illegal influence on the will of the Armenian citizens should be ruled out, and ensuring this is the obligation of the government.

First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan is ready to testify on the 2008 March 1 case in status of a witness, Aram Manukyan, member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) party, told reporters in the Parliament.

“Anyone, who can contribute to disclosing the case, should be happy to come to the Investigation Service and provide materials. There is no one in this country who is more interested in the discovery of the March 1 case than Levon Ter-Petrosyan”, Manukyan said.

He informed that during these ten years they have collected all materials which they are ready to provide to the structure conducting justice.

“We have collected materials, published books, shot films, applied to all international European structures and prepared the list of all possible criminals during these ten years. We have the list of all police officers who gave false testimonies, the names of prosecutors who launched fake charges. We have done the last work before the 10th anniversary of the March 1 case. After publishing the collection of documents we have sent the samples to all concerned sides. It’s a whole collection which is enough for discovering the March 1 case. The material is so huge that it completely proves the fact that the March 1 crime was pre-organized and implemented”, Aram Manukyan said.

He stated that the precautionary measure against 2nd President Robert Kocharyan should remain the court’s ruling to remand him in custody.