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EVENTS IN YEREVAN WERE JUST A CRIME - KOCHARIAN
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 4, 2008
Russia
Armenian President Robert Kocharian discussed with European Union
Special Representative in the South Caucasus Peter Semnebi the
situation that formed in Yerevan following mass riots, Armenian
president's press service told Interfax.
The authorities hope for quick normalization of the situation, he said.
The events in Yerevan "have nothing to do with politics, they were
simply a crime that should be investigated in detail, and all the
guilty should bear legal responsibility," he said as cited by the
press service.
Semnebi said he hoped that investigation of the event will be unbiased
and multilateral and everything will be done to mitigate the current
situation.
The people who ordered, orchestrated and took part in recent mass
unrest in Yerevan will be punished, presidential press secretary
Viktor Sogomonian said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"Levon Ter-Petrosian and his team, and all those who provoked and
organized mass unrest and called for overthrowing the incumbent
authorities will be punished," Sogomonian said.
"Especially those who provoked unrest," he added.
The situation in the city is returning to normal, he said.
Asked about the possibility of a dialogue with the radical opposition
and a possible format of such dialogue, Sogomonian said he did not
see a possibility for such dialogue now.
"Before those events took place, there were chances for dialogue.
The opposition said more than once that it ruled out the possibility
of dialogue with the authorities. I do not see such an opportunity
now. Can anything really be discussed after what happened?"
Sogomonian said.
The unsanctioned opposition rallies had lasted for ten days, he said.
There were armed people among those who incited the unrest, while
police were unarmed, Sogomonian said. "International institutions
should know that there was no excessive use of force. The Armenian
political leadership ordered that violence be avoided as much as
possible and that the use of force be minimized," he said.
Armenian radical opposition headed by former President Levon Ter-
Petrosian held rallies on the Liberty square in the center of Yerevan
protesting the results of the February 19 election which Prime Minister
Serzh Sagsyan won. On March 1, Armenian police dispersed the rally
on the Liberty square.
The rally participants moved to the territory adjacent to the French
and Italian embassies, near to the Yerevan Mayor's Office. Up to
10,000 demonstrators gathered there. The police said that in the
evening the situation went out of control, the crowd began to rob
nearby state facilities, private shops and set fire to cars.
In the riots, eight people were killed and 131 were wounded.
Meanwhile in last Monday the European Commission has insistently
called on the Armenian authorities to cancel the state of emergency
in Yerevan introduced on March 1 and urged all political forces to
abstain from the use of force and to begin a dialogue in order to
overcome the existing differences.
"I also call on the Armenian authorities to lift all restrictions on
the free movement of former candidate for the presidency Levon Ter-
Petrosian and to release all citizens detained for the execution of
their right to the freedom of assemblies," European Commissioner for
External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-
Waldner said in a statement.
Thirty people were apprehended within the framework of the
investigation of a criminal case into March riots in Yerevan, the press
service of the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office told Interfax,
adding that the case is probed by the special investigative service.
These people were detained "for using violence against police officers,
appeals to resist the decision to terminate public actions organized
in violation of the law, as well as inciting and staging mass riots,"
the press service said.
"There are people with earlier convictions, including with six previous
convictions, among those detained," the press service said.
The special investigative service, takes measures to expose all
those who used force against police officers, who were ensuring and
maintaining order in Yerevan, as well as to expose those who incited
and staged the riots, the press service said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 4, 2008
Russia
Armenian President Robert Kocharian discussed with European Union
Special Representative in the South Caucasus Peter Semnebi the
situation that formed in Yerevan following mass riots, Armenian
president's press service told Interfax.
The authorities hope for quick normalization of the situation, he said.
The events in Yerevan "have nothing to do with politics, they were
simply a crime that should be investigated in detail, and all the
guilty should bear legal responsibility," he said as cited by the
press service.
Semnebi said he hoped that investigation of the event will be unbiased
and multilateral and everything will be done to mitigate the current
situation.
The people who ordered, orchestrated and took part in recent mass
unrest in Yerevan will be punished, presidential press secretary
Viktor Sogomonian said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"Levon Ter-Petrosian and his team, and all those who provoked and
organized mass unrest and called for overthrowing the incumbent
authorities will be punished," Sogomonian said.
"Especially those who provoked unrest," he added.
The situation in the city is returning to normal, he said.
Asked about the possibility of a dialogue with the radical opposition
and a possible format of such dialogue, Sogomonian said he did not
see a possibility for such dialogue now.
"Before those events took place, there were chances for dialogue.
The opposition said more than once that it ruled out the possibility
of dialogue with the authorities. I do not see such an opportunity
now. Can anything really be discussed after what happened?"
Sogomonian said.
The unsanctioned opposition rallies had lasted for ten days, he said.
There were armed people among those who incited the unrest, while
police were unarmed, Sogomonian said. "International institutions
should know that there was no excessive use of force. The Armenian
political leadership ordered that violence be avoided as much as
possible and that the use of force be minimized," he said.
Armenian radical opposition headed by former President Levon Ter-
Petrosian held rallies on the Liberty square in the center of Yerevan
protesting the results of the February 19 election which Prime Minister
Serzh Sagsyan won. On March 1, Armenian police dispersed the rally
on the Liberty square.
The rally participants moved to the territory adjacent to the French
and Italian embassies, near to the Yerevan Mayor's Office. Up to
10,000 demonstrators gathered there. The police said that in the
evening the situation went out of control, the crowd began to rob
nearby state facilities, private shops and set fire to cars.
In the riots, eight people were killed and 131 were wounded.
Meanwhile in last Monday the European Commission has insistently
called on the Armenian authorities to cancel the state of emergency
in Yerevan introduced on March 1 and urged all political forces to
abstain from the use of force and to begin a dialogue in order to
overcome the existing differences.
"I also call on the Armenian authorities to lift all restrictions on
the free movement of former candidate for the presidency Levon Ter-
Petrosian and to release all citizens detained for the execution of
their right to the freedom of assemblies," European Commissioner for
External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-
Waldner said in a statement.
Thirty people were apprehended within the framework of the
investigation of a criminal case into March riots in Yerevan, the press
service of the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office told Interfax,
adding that the case is probed by the special investigative service.
These people were detained "for using violence against police officers,
appeals to resist the decision to terminate public actions organized
in violation of the law, as well as inciting and staging mass riots,"
the press service said.
"There are people with earlier convictions, including with six previous
convictions, among those detained," the press service said.
The special investigative service, takes measures to expose all
those who used force against police officers, who were ensuring and
maintaining order in Yerevan, as well as to expose those who incited
and staged the riots, the press service said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress