Armenian law-enforcement authorities announced on Wednesday that they established the identity of a woman who claimed that security forces killed a 12 year-old boy when dispersing supporters of ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan on Freedom Square in the early hours of March 1. Several local dailies published the photo of the woman for several consecutive days asking Armenians to help reveal her identity. In a statement yesterday the office of the prosecutor-general said the woman is Laura Melkonyan, a resident of the town of Martuni in Gegharkunik province. The statement said the woman was questioned as a witness admitting to disseminating overtly false information on March 1 afternoon when demonstrators massed near the French embassy in Yerevan. The statement further said the woman admitted that it was a provocation designed by some people saying also she regrets doing it. She told investigators that she heard some people who were near the embassy saying that police officers killed a 12 year-old boy in the morning. Then she took out an old shoe from a nearby garbage tank and declared that it was the killed boy’s shoe. "Following that some people took the shoe away, put it at the monument, lit a candle and put flowers," she said, admitting that her claims had big effect on the people who became emotional and began swearing at police officers. "Now I understand that the rumor about the boy’s murder by police was a provocation and I reiterated it unknowingly for which I regret deeply,” she was quoted as saying.
