ARMENIA: NO ANSWERS FOR MARCH 1 VIOLENCE
Marianna Grigoryan
Eurasianet
December 5, 2008
NY
More than nine months after Yerevan’s March 1 post-election clashes,
the Council of Europe and many ordinary Armenians are taking issue
with the official investigation into the violence for being long on
promises and short on results.
Political tensions after Armenia’s February 19 presidential election
this year led to street clashes between opposition protesters and
security forces that left at least 10 people dead and hundreds
wounded. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Many
opposition activists and supporters were arrested following the
crackdown; some went into hiding.
In response to opposition claims about political prisoners, the
government has insisted that steps are being taken to expose the
"real culprits" for the violence. An ad hoc parliamentary commission
was set up in June to look into the violence, and trials of suspected
instigators have begun. In October, a group of experts to assist the
investigation was also established.
These steps, however, have done little to assuage international
concerns. For the third time since March 1, the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) plans to raise Armenia’s compliance
with PACE resolutions for further scrutiny. [For details, see the
Eurasia Insight archive].
"If no changes are registered by the time when the issue of Armenia
is raised at the PACE session in January, it is likely sanctions
will be imposed," Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
Thomas Hammarberg told EurasiaNet at the end of his November 20-22
fact-finding visit to Armenia. "Unless there is a satisfactory
situation, it is not excluded that Armenia will be stripped of its
voting right."
Two earlier resolutions passed by the Strasbourg-based body (#1609 and
#1620) have stressed the need for Armenia to conduct an independent
and unbiased investigation into the March 1 events.
Patience among many Armenians is already running thin for a resolution
to the question of culpability for the bloodshed.
"It’s been already nine months and I want to know who killed my
husband. Why did he die while he had nothing to do with all that and
was simply coming home from work on that damned night?" asked Yerevan
resident Varduhi Gevorgian, whose husband, Grigor Gevorgian, was
reportedly killed while trying to make his way home by foot. According
to his death certificate, Gevorgian died from a gunshot wound to
the forehead.
The lack of answers for deaths such as Gevorgian’s fuels international
concerns.
At a November 22 press conference in Yerevan, Hammarberg hailed
the formation of the Fact-Finding Group of Experts, but expressed
criticism about Armenia’s degree of "democratic progress."
"The information I have gathered has rather disappointed me," said
Hammarberg, who expressed specific concern over the conduct of trials,
interrogation methods, and the practice of keeping people in custody
for months "without sufficient grounds."
"Tear gas cartridges were found in the bodies of three of those
killed and it was those that caused their deaths," Hammarberg said,
speaking through an Armenian interpreter. "Those cartridges were
fired from guns carried by police and the narrow circle of police
that dealt with guns [on that night] is known. I also thought that
it was possible to establish who carried those guns whose cartridges
caused the deaths." Hammarberg stated that he has twice raised the
matter with the general prosecutor’s office, but "they have so far
failed to clarify the issue."
Yerevan translator Levon Baghdasarian believes that the general
uncertainty surrounding the entire investigation makes it far from
credible.
"The investigation body must be independent and unbiased, but it is
not so," Baghdasarian commented. " What unbiased investigation can
we talk about in this case if the sides that were involved in the
events — the police, the prosecutor’s office — are now conducting
the investigation? That is, it turns out that the murder is being
investigated by the murderers."
Arman Musinian, spokesperson for opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian,
argued that there is no investigation into the March 1 events as such.
"Their logic is ‘If you hadn’t gathered on March 1, there would
not have been victims. Since you did, then you are to blame,’"
Musinian said.
However, 20-year-old student Hakob Manukian said he trusts the
authorities.
"The authorities found themselves in a rather difficult situation after
the March 1 events and now must do everything with a clear conscience
to keep the public’s trust . . .," said Manukian. "No doubt, steps
are being made in this intricate case, however perhaps it would be
correct if international experts were involved in the investigation
for transparency."
Hammarberg said that the authorities have not made any specific
request for assistance from international experts. "If they make such
a request, we are ready to assist," he added.
Meanwhile, government representatives continue to stress that they
are doing their utmost to conduct the most effective investigation
possible.
"In order to have a complete picture to comment on, the investigation
work needs to be completed," Edward Sharmazanov, a senior lawmaker
from the governing Republican Party of Armenia, said. "But I think
everything is being done for the public at large to have exhaustive
answers to their questions."
The complaints, he added, are normal for a developing democracy.
"Reforms are not carried out within one day, particularly for such
an intricate case as March 1," Sharmazanov said. "We are implementing
reforms not for Hammarberg and his European partners, but for having
a democratic and developed Armenia tomorrow."