NA starts discussions on setting up March 1 events interim commission

The National Assembly started today discussions of Armenian National Congress (HAK) faction-initiated issue of setting up an interim commission on March 1, 2008 events.

HAK faction deputy Gagik Jangirian made the main report. He said five years have passed since the March 1-2 events, but the crime has not been solved. According to Jangirian, the legal successors of the ten persons killed in the March 1 events, as well as the citizens and servicemen injured at that time have not so far received compensation.

“The findings of the NA interim commission set up on 15 June, 2008, has not received approval of the victims’ relatives, wide sections of the population, extra-coalitional political forces, and the PACE Monitoring Committee that assessed the findings as one-sided comments,” Jangirian said.

In his words, the new commission will differ from the previous one. “It will assess the lawfulness and reasonableness of the actions and decisions of the police, Special Investigation Service, and the prosecutor’s office and examine the reasons for causing injuries and committing killings,” the deputy said.

He announced that the commission must submit its findings to NA until November 29, but about a month has been lost so the deputy proposed extending the deadline.