Families of March 1 Victims’ Only Hope Lies in Change in Armenian Government

A mass in memory of the victims of March 1, 2008 was held in Yerevan’s Catholic Church today. Participating in the liturgy were relatives of the deceased, as well as members of the opposition group Armenian National Congress and former political prisoners.

After the liturgy, speaking to journalists, Sargis Kloyan, the father of slain Gor Kloyan, said the group has prepared a letter directed to Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg, which they will hand over to the CoE’s Armenia office today. Recall that Hammarberg will be in Armenia on Jan. 18.

“Let’s wait and see whether Hammarberg will see us or not. We have been waiting 3 years. Nothing has changed in three years, nothing has been done, the guilty have not been uncovered; we will present our demands, he will listen to us then he will leave, as always. It’s just that we are indebted to ourselves to take advantage of the opportunity; let’s meet, present our complaints again. When the plenary session begins at the CoE, they will discuss our issue or not, they’ll listen to our issue or not… and today we have no expectations, we only have expectations from a change in government,” said Kloyan.

Vachagan Farmanyan, father of March 1 victim Armen Farmanyan, said that there is no progress at this time with regard to their sons’ deaths.

“We even appealed to the courts [and] they denied [our appeals]; now we have to submit a letter.  We live on hope,” he said.

Recall that mass protests against alleged electoral fraud, organized by supporters of unsuccessful presidential candidate, first president of the Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian, followed the presidential election of Feb. 19, 2008, in Armenia. On Mar. 1, 2008, national police and military forces, called in to disperse the crowds, used “excessive force and violence” which left 10 people dead and many more wounded.