Families of nine of the 10 men who died in Armenia’s post-election violence in 2008 are suing to force the country’s General Prosecutor’s Office to take a more active interest in investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

The parents of those killed argue that the General Prosecutor’s Office is not investigating what actually happened during the clashes, and how the nine men – eight civilians and one soldier -- were killed. No criminal case has yet been filed in connection with the deaths. [For background see EurasiaNet archive].

Families of the deceased have also petitioned the court for “fair compensation” for their relatives’ deaths; many of the nine men were their families’ sole source of financial support, they argue. The family of the 10th victim, 30-year-old police Captain Hamlet Tadevosian, did not join the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs presented their case on April 19 in a Yerevan court presided over by Judge Gayane Karakhanian, who has heard previous cases related to the March 2008 violence. Mothers of the victims sat in the packed courtroom with photographs of the dead in their hands and posters declaring “Punish the murderers!” Sobs often could be heard during the proceedings. [For background see EurasiaNet archive].

Alla Hovhannisian, whose son, 23-year-old student Tigran Khachatrian, was killed by a bullet fired from a Cheryomukha-7 teargas gun, believes that President Serzh Sargsyan’s dissolution of the fact-finding commission means that “authorities have no intention to name and prosecute the murderers.” The commission was disbanded in 2009 on the grounds of a “disagreement among group members.” [For background see EurasiaNet archive].

“[I]t is now clear that we will not succeed in court, either. We just have to go through the local courts first in order to be able to turn to the European Court [of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France],” Hovhannisian said.

The General Prosecutor’s Office rejects the claims that it has not thoroughly investigated the deaths of the nine men. Prosecutor Vahagn Harutiunian, head of the Special Investigation Group looking into the March 1, 2008, deaths, told EurasiaNet.org that his team “has done everything in its power to identify those guilty of the events of March 1.”

“There are thousands of unsolved cases in the world. The same goes for our country, so does that mean that prosecutor’s offices everywhere are idle?” asked Harutiunian. “No. There are events that, even given a great desire and much effort, are impossible to solve. Nonetheless, we are still working on those cases and hope that one day we will find the guilty.”

Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Samvel Nikoian, a member of the governing Republican Party of Armenia who heads up the parliamentary committee investigating the March 1 events, also maintains that “there is no one unwilling to solve these cases.”

“First of all, we, the authorities, want that, but it’s not so easy to do,” Nikoian said, citing the confusion involved in a case of “massive public disorder.”
Government attorneys will answer the families’ allegations on May 5, when the court reconvenes.

One attorney representing the families of the deceased, Artak Zeinalian, insists that finding those who killed three of the victims – those who died from bullets fired from Cheryomukha-7 teargas guns issued to police – could have been easily accomplished. “And not only those who killed them, but those who gave the orders should have been punished,” Zeinalian argued.

In 2009, the General Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had identified four police officers who had used the guns, but that it could not pinpoint which officer had fired the gun that killed the three men.

Lawyer Seda Safarian, an opposition member of the former fact-finding commission, claims that it became clear after questioning police officers who carried a Cheryomukha-7 that they had undergone training and knew that they must shoot only in the air.

“Even if the police officers cannot be identified, at least the commander should have been brought to account,” commented Safarian. “During the deposition, Police Task Force Commander Bagrat Khachatrian said that the order to shoot at people was issued by the former deputy commander of the police troops and chief of staff, Gegham Petrosian.”

Petrosian now serves as chief of staff for the Ministry of Emergency Situations’ Mobilization Department. Prosecutor Harutiunian maintains that Safarian’s claims about Petrosian have no basis in fact.

Politics has lost little of its force in this dispute. Opposition supporters have placed Judge Karakhanian on a list of judges who allegedly have “lost their conscience” by ruling against the opposition previously.

With that concern in mind, parents of the slain worry that the court “will deliberately prolong the process” of deciding whether prosecutors have failed to investigate their children’s deaths properly. “But they cannot drag it on forever,” commented Alla Hovhannisian. “Sooner or later, we will reach the international courts.”