March 1-2, 2008 events: RA Prosecutor General opens public criminal  case against commanders of 4th Army Corps of RA Armed Forces

ArmInfo.On June 1, 2026, as part of the criminal proceedings initiated in connection with the events that took place in Yerevan on March 1-2, 2008, the Prosecutor General opened a public criminal case against the commanders of the 4th Army Corps of the RA Armed Forces for the period from February 23 to March 1, 2008.

In particular, during the criminal investigation conducted by the  Anti-Corruption Committee, information was received that the  commanders of the 4th Army Corps of the RA Armed Forces, P.P., V.G.,  and G.B.  L.E., executing a clearly illegal order, facilitated the  abuse of office by Mikael Harutyunyan, who held the position of  Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia at the time, and  several other high-ranking officials, including Robert Kocharyan,  Seyran Ohanyan, and Yuri Khachatrov, accused in the March 1 case.

As a reminder, on March 1, 2008, following the presidential elections  held on February 19, which were won by Serzh Sargsyan, unrest erupted  in Yerevan, culminating in clashes with law enforcement. The Armenian  opposition, led by first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who also ran  in the election, held rallies in central Yerevan beginning on  February 20, expressing dissatisfaction with the vote results. On  March 1- 2, protests erupted into riots and clashes between  protesters and law enforcement, resulting in 10 deaths, including  police officers, and over 200 injuries of varying severity. On August  17, 2018, Nikol Pashinyan declared that the case surrounding the  events of March 1-2, 2008, in Yerevan had been fully resolved.