Only archives on March 1, 2008 events
15:30, December 1, 2014 | News, Own news | Prohibition of abuse of rights, Right to Fair Trial | Police, Special Investigation Service
During the police military exercises in Arzni on September 13, 2014, journalists asked questions to RA Police head Vladimir Gasparyan regarding the events and crime cases of March 1, 2008. His answer was: “My participation in March 1 event has been so much as follows: the police have taken over the protection of the government building and I also participated in the scene investigation of the field with the operative group.”
This announcement allows to conclude that military police has acted illegally on March 1, as the RA Law on “Military Police” specifically states in which cases and which activities can be carried out by the military police. More specifically, Article 4 of RA Law on “Military Police” defines the objectives of the military police, i.e. according to the RA Law, the Military Police ensures:
- Investigation in the army regarding identification of military crime cases as well as activities which happened in military base or crime cases referred to the conscripts
- Prevention of crime preparation or conduct by soldiers, prevention and elimination of such actions
- Protection of public equipment authorized to an official
- Purposeful use of transportation provided to the armed forces, secure travelling
Additionally, other objectives can be defined for the Military Police only by the Law.
Considering the aforementioned provision of the Law HCA Vanadzor wrote a request letter to the RA General Attorney Gevorg Kostandyan and head of RA Special Investigation Services V. Shahinyan to undertake consequent measures to give a legal evaluation to the activities performed by the military police on 1st of March in 2008, to identify other officials involved in the acts and hold them accountable according to the Law.
As a response to the letter G. Gevorgyan, a senior prosecutor at the RA General Prosecution office department of investigation of cases of special important has informed that the request letter had been sent to the RA SPS for consideration during the review process of the criminal case opened regarding the events of March 1, 2008.
Waiting for RA SIS’s response