Relatives of March 1 victims sought a meeting with PACE co-rapporteur
"Nobody can raise the issue of March 1 victims better than the parents of the victims," says Alla Hovhannisyan, mother of a 23-year-old victim of March 1 tragedy.
For the first time PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteur on Armenia, Axel Fischer, left Yerevan without meeting the relatives of the ten victims.
"We were surprised to learn that the co-rapporteurs planned to meet only with government and opposition representatives. We have already witnessed our authorities "raising" the issue of March 1 tragedy at PACE sessions," said Hovhannisyan.
The parents highlighted the meeting with the PACE co-rapporteur, especially on the eve of the PACE session.
"We wanted to tell Fischer that Vahagn Harutyunyan, head of the Special Investigation Service's Investigation Group looking into the deadly clashes of March 1, 2008, will rather conceal than disclose the murders. If they really want the SIS to unveil the tragic events, they should replace its officials. Not a single police officers engaged in the deadly post-election clashes has been called in for questioning up today," said Alla Hovhannisyan.
The desperate mother says her son's murder will not be disclosed as long as the regime rules the country. She lays the guilt trip for the murders on Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan.
"They say Sargsyan was not the country's president during the tragic events and cannot be blamed for the murders. But he held a top position [prime minister] and is equally guilty for the clashes. Sargsyan does not want the tragedy to be disclosed therefore he makes empty statements in international structures," she said.
