ARMENIA LAUNCHES CRIMINAL PROBE INTO OPPOSITION RALLY
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 1, 2008 Saturday
Russia
A criminal investigation has been launched into the 10-day opposition
rally in the heart of Yerevan that was dispersed by police on Saturday,
the Armenian Office of Prosecutor General said.
The inquiry is based on the criminal law articles "Organization of
Mass Riots," "Illegal Acquisition, Sale, Possession, Transportation
or Carrying of Weapons, Ammunition, Explosive Substances or Explosive
Devices," and "Violence Against Representatives of State Authority,"
the Office of Prosecutor General’s press service told Interfax.
The rally, which had been going on since February 20, brought together
supporters of former Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian, who wants
the annulment of the official results of the February 19 presidential
election, which he lost to Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.
Rally participants set up a 24-hour tent camp on Freedom Square in
central Yerevan.
"Around 6:00 hours on March 1, rally organizers and participants,
disobeying a demand that they stop holding rallies, offered resistance
with the use of bludgeons and metal rods, inflicting bodily injuries on
representatives of state authority. Rally participants were illegally
bearing weapons," the press service said.