Former Armenian Political Prisoners to Spend Night Outside City Hall in Memory of March 1 Victims

Nikol Pashinyan and Sasun Mikaelyan, board members of an initiative called Civil Contract and former political prisoners, will spend the night of Mar. 1–2 outside, near the statue of Alexander Myasnikyan across the street from Yerevan City Hall. This news was conveyed on Feb. 11 by Pashinyan on his Facebook page. 

"Today we decided with Sasun Mikaelyan to be on the night of Mar. 1–2 there where we were on Mar. 1–2, 2008. 

"At 9 pm on Mar. 1, 2014, with Sasun Mikaelyan we will be near the Myasnikyan statue. We will spend the entire night there, and we will greet the dawn on Mar. 2 there, which we failed to do in 2008.

"In this way we will honor the memory of the victims of March 1; we will affirm our perseverance in the matter of solving the March 1 murders, and our dedication to the civic values, aspirations, and struggle of March 1," he wrote. 

On Feb. 20, 2008, the day after the presidential election in Armenia, tens of thousands of people who disagreed with the outcome of the elections flocked to Liberty Square in Yerevan. Demonstrators did not leave the streets till Mar. 1, 2008, when thousands of police officers at night descended on the make-shift tent city that had sprung up on Liberty Square and where protestors were camping overnight. Using force and weapons, police dispersed the peaceful protestors, driving them outside city hall, near Myasnikyan's statue. 10 people were killed — 8 demonstrators and 2 law enforcement officers. Hundreds of opposition supporters were arrested and sentenced. The government declared a state of emergency and the media was on lockdown. To this day no one has been punished for these crimes.