Epress.am News from Armenia
It was obvious, that the people’s anger after the Gyumri murders would turn into mass actions with unpredictable consequences, said second president Robert Kocharyan during an interview with 2rd.am while speaking about the incidents in Gyumri.
“It was necessary to prevent this with immediate actions by the authorities. And first of all, unequivocal assurances must be given that the crime will be investigated by Armenian law enforcement and that the criminal will stand in front of the Armenian court (especially, because we have a precedent in 1999). I’m confident that it basically was necessary for both the Armenian and Russian sides, because it would have prevented all attempts of observing Armenian-Russian relations specifically in the context of the tragedy. Our officials' unclear, contradictory, and confusing statements added fuel to the fire and without all that, the tense situation had a tone of national humiliation. That already is an explosive combination and, unfortunately, people’s anger was poured onto Armenian police,” said Kocharyan.
Recall, that in 1999, the Shirak Marz (province) Court of First Instance sentenced Russian military servicemen Aleksander Kamenev to 15-years and Denis Popov to 14-years for murder in Gyumri.