After listening to the final report of the NA Ad-Hoc Commission inquiring into the March 1-2 events, RA Human Rights Defender Armen Harutiunyan came to the conclusion, "They saved the Prosecutor-General." "The document lacks specifics although all questions are correctly formulated. The Commission stumbled in the descriptive part. The report didn’t refer to the state of emergency following the March 1 clashes and imposed largely on opposition press. Besides, the attitude to the reported 10 victims is very mild," notes the RA Ombudsman. "I am glad that the report refers to violence against citizens and doesn’t ascribe the weapons found at Liberty Square to the opposition. In this sense, the report is a step forward. The report also lays the blame of the March 1 clashes on the oligarchic system and privileged group. The authorities are to blame for the events." The Human Rights Defender is surprised at Commission Chair Samvel Nikoyan’s statement that "the page of March 1 is closed for those who don’t want clashes to be repeated." "We can neither close nor open the page. We must learn lessons from the events," says Mr. Harutiunian. Unlike Mr. Nikoyan, the Ombudsman thinks the report opened a new page for the March 1 events to be disclosed finally. Regardless of my expectations from the parliamentary commission, I must say it couldn’t replace the Special Investigation Service and disclose the ten murders instead of law-enforcement agencies. This conclusion of the ad hoc commission is a direct accusation to Robert Kocharyan, isn’t it? To this question of the A1+ Harutiunyan responded, “I wouldn’t like to answer this question because it may move to another field but I will say that we needed the curfew. We couldn’t’ possibly not have curfew after all that happened but the rest of the imbecile practice continued ever since.”
