During its yesterday’s session the NA Temporary Committee investigating the results of March 1-2 developments touched upon the circumstances of the death cases and the results of the forensic expertise. For that purpose the committee invited the Director of the Scientific-Practical Center of Forensic Expertise Shota Vardanyan.
The latter firstly announced that by now the structure headed by him has made an examination of 125 ambulatory, 145 stationary and 10 dead bodies. As a consequence of what has happened only two have died in the hospital, 40 days after the tragic events, because they got brain and spinal cord injuries. Medical interference is helpless in such cases. After that the members of the committee started to ask questions to the number one doctor of forensic expertise. The head of the committee Samvel Nikoyan was interested in how many policemen got wounded as a result of March 1 events. “The police responded to us that 41 policemen got wounded in the Liberty Square in the morning of March 1. They told us the time was at 7:00-7:30. According to your data 24 policemen got wounded. I would like to know why these two data are different,” asked Nikoyan. “The difference is that they presented the numbers they had within 1 or 2 days. But we are presenting the numbers from our recent day expertise. They presented the numbers in panic but the number of victims that we are showing is higher than theirs,” said Vardanyan without understanding the logic of the question and the fact that his number 24 is lower than the one of the police 41. “The reason of our question is that we are going to rely on your data and not the ones of the police. The police may say a lot and we just want to know the actual number,” construed Nikoyan. Touching upon the rumors saying that the number of the victims was much more than it has been officially announced Shota Vardanyan said: “We are all from Armenian families and we all know our local traditions. As you know we can’t hide the dead bodies, because we must complete all the traditions. European experts also asked this question. It took us two days to explain them that in Armenia we respect dead bodies more than live people. They also stated that there were 38 dead bodies in the morgue. Vardanyan was not even able to explain why the police is increasing the number of the victims among policemen. During the Q&A with Vardanyan it became clear that the fact of one of the victim’s death was being marred. The parents of the deceased Samvel Harutyunyan said that their son died not because of the gunshot on March 1 but because of violence. “On March 2-3 we saw our son on TV in a healthy state. He was sitting with 5 more guys near the bloody wall. In the video my son was speaking to one of the policemen and in the next scene he was already on the floor. I am sure that my son got the serious hit there,” told A1+ the father of the victim Robert Harutyunyan and added that on the wrists of his son there were spots of red rope and there were bruises under his eyes. ARF member Artyusha Shahbazyan asked Vardanyan whether there were spots on Samvel that resulted from violence. “The disease history only shows the cranial damage. There was no other damage. If there was the doctors would include it,” answered Vardanyan. The police stated that “hedgehogs” were found in the tens of the Liberty Square. Artsvik Minasyan was interested whether those “hedgehogs” were used. The director of the center didn’t exclude that three of the eight victims could have died because of “hedgehogs”. And there are many testimonies and witnesses who can prove that the demonstrators have used “hedgehogs” in the Liberty Square. Shota Vardanyan also stated that: “Our center has the opportunity to make any type of forensic expertise. Even the European experts state that we make swifter and better expertise. It is a fact that the demonstrators have used grenades and guns.” “The experts of the Council of Europe also asked us these questions. I was trying to explain them for two days that in Armenia the live people may not be respected as much as the dead ones. I showed them how funerals are organized here. I showed these people how the whole procedure is held. They told us there were 38 dead bodies and that these bodies were transferred in trucks. There was no violence or anything. They all dies immediately,” said Vardanyan. Reminder: the MPs of the Heritage faction tried to enter the morgue to find out how many people actually died. However, they were not allowed to enter. To the question why they were not allowed to enter the morgue Vardanyan said, “what did they have to do in the morgue in the morning of March 1?” He meant that till 7 p.m. of March 1 there was no victim. “We didn’t go there on March 1. Vardan Khachatryan and I went there on March 3 but we were not allowed not only to enter the morgue but also to talk to the management of the morgue. He is either mistaken or obviously tells a lie,” yesterday told us a Heritage MP Zaruhi Postanjyan. “The NA MP has the right to enter a state institution and no one can hinder. If they ban the application of our right it means that there is something to hide,” said Stepan Safaryan.