Armenian ex-president`s office responds to media fact-checking on  March 1

ArmInfo. Commenting on the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling in the "March 1" case at a press conference on October 7, Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan, noted that the key point of the ECHR's decision is the state's failure to make sufficient efforts to solve these deaths.  Bagrat Mikoyan, head of the second president's office, told  Yerevan.

Today this in response to a "fact-check" conducted by a media  outlet following Kocharyan's statement that the main point of the  ruling is that the state failed to make sufficient efforts to solve  the deaths, and that the second president's statement misled the  public. "I've read the latest 'fact-check.' Has anyone ever claimed  that the right to life of those killed on March 1 wasn't violated or  that a tragedy didn't occur? The ECHR's decision essentially  documented circumstances that were already obvious, and no  'fact-check' was required to see them," Mikoyan said.

According to him, the former president noted that the key point of  the ECHR's decision is the state's failure to make sufficient efforts  to solve these deaths.

"The European Court even suggested that the circumstances of one of  the demonstrators' deaths could have been linked to violent actions  by non-peaceful protesters, while also noting the lack of an  effective investigation." "All this proves that if the circumstances  of the deaths were revealed, it would become clear who exactly  violated the right to life and under what circumstances-it's all  extremely simple," he noted.

Mikoyan noted that the ECHR decision clearly demonstrates that,  beginning in 2018, the state concealed from the court facts contained  in the criminal case and known to the entire public, such as the use  of grenades and firearms by protesters.

"These facts could have been directly related to the deaths of the  first person killed that day-a police captain who died from a grenade  explosion, and another police officer who died from a gunshot wound.   Unlike previous decisions, this one explicitly states that the  demonstrations cannot be considered entirely peaceful; there were  protesters who used violence, throwing stones, Molotov cocktails, and  other objects at police, causing serious damage to public and private  property."

It's clear that the state failed to provide adequate protection, as  the president stated directly at the press conference. It's important  to note that the ECHR itself has repeatedly stated that the court was  not provided with sufficient information. Without these facts, the  ECHR's decision becomes highly questionable and vulnerable and will  sooner or later require review. And yes, the government led by Nikol  Pashinyan has made no effort whatsoever to solve the cases of the  March 1 deaths for over seven years. "The fact is this, and it  doesn't require verification," Mikoyan concluded.

On September 18, the ECHR published its decision in the case of  Farmanyan v. Armenia, concerning the deaths of people during mass  protests in Yerevan in 2008 as a result of the indiscriminate and  disproportionate use of force by the police. The verdict identified a  number of violations by the Republic of Armenia, including violations  of the right to life.

15 years ago, following the presidential elections held on February  19, which were won by Serzh Sargsyan, unrest broke out 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 from February 20,  expressing dissatisfaction with the election results. The protests  culminated in riots and clashes between protesters and law  enforcement on March 1-2, resulting in 10 deaths. Over 200 people,  including police officers, were injured to varying degrees of  severity.

On August 17, 2018, Nikol Pashinyan announced that the case  surrounding the events of March 1-2, 2008, in Yerevan had been fully  resolved.