TER-PETROSYAN AMONG THOSE CHARGED IN RIOT CASES – PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 3, 2008
Russia
Several criminal cases have been opened in Armenia in response to
the recent mass riots in Yerevan.
The cases have been combined into one, with ex-president and opposition
leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan among those charged, a source in the
Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office told Interfax on Monday.
"Criminal cases have been opened on charges of attempt to seize power
through violence, violation of the constitutional order, mass riots
and other charges. Ter-Petrosyan’s name is among those against whom
proceedings have been launched," the source said.
A special group under the Prosecutor General has been set up to
investigate the cases, he said.
Since February 20, 2008, the radical opposition led by Ter-Petrosyan
has been rallying on Freedom Square in central Yerevan to protest
the results of the February 19 presidential polls, which was won by
former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.
In the morning of March 1, police dispersed an opposition rally.
The same day, about 10,000 protesters gathered near the embassies of
France and Italy, not far from the Mayor’s Office.
By the end of the afternoon, the situation had spun out of control as
crowds of angry people began storming and looting nearby administrative
buildings, private shops and kiosks and setting cars on fire. Eight
people were killed, and 131 were wounded in the riots.