Epress.am News from Armenia
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) team investigating the circumstances surrounding events that took place on Mar. 1–2, 2008, in Yerevan is currently looking into a video uploaded on YouTube on May 23.
As reported previously, the video was uploaded by a user going by the name of martimek2008 (which translates to Mar. 1, 2008) and is titled “See how they fire on Mar. 1, 2008.” There’s no description accompanying the clip but it is assumed to be a scene from Mar. 2008 when mass unrest in Yerevan following a disputed presidential election resulted in at least 10 dead and many more wounded.
The circumstances surrounding the events during these days (as well as the investigation into the people behind the murders) have still not been officially clarified. The video lasts only 41 seconds and seems to have been shot from one of the higher floors or the roof of a residential building nearby.
At a press conference Wednesday, asked by RFE/RL’s Armenian service correspondent as to whether the investigative team has uncovered the identify of those firing at protestors seen in the clip, as well as whether they’ve confirmed the weapons and whether those who were seen being fired at were killed, head of the Mar. 1 investigation team Vahagn Harutyunyan said they are currently investigating the YouTube video and they will present their findings as soon as possible to the public.
Asked whether the investigative team had not in fact examined these clips in the past three years, Harutyunyan said the investigative body did not have this piece at their disposal.
As reported by RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Harutyunyan then informed the press that after the order to law enforcement agencies for a more thorough probe made by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, the investigative team questioned more than 50 people, but this did not yield any positive results in clarifying circumstances and there are no new facts from these witness testimonies. According to him, there is no progress in uncovering the circumstances surrounding these events.
“There’s no progress but we expect, having hope that at least someone can reference some substantial circumstances. In this regard, more than 600 interrogations are set to be carried out, with the expectation of getting new information related to the crimes,” he said.
As of today, the question of interrogating former presidents Robert Kocharian and Levon Ter-Petrossian has not yet been decided, he added.