Arrested ex-police official charged with manslaughter in 2008 unrest probe

YEREVAN, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS. Former high ranking police official Gegham Petrosyan has been charged with manslaughter after being detained on June 4 in the ongoing criminal investigation into the deadly 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan.

“Charges have been pressed under paragraph 1 article 104 of the criminal code [unlawful and intentional killing of a person]. A motion to jail Gegham Petrosyan has been filed to court,” Special Investigative Committee spokesperson Marina Ohanjanyan told ARMENPRESS.

On June 4 authorities reported that Gegham Petrosyan, a police official who served as Deputy Commander of the Police Troops in 2008, was arrested in suspicion of killing Zakar Hovhannisyan, a protester during the March 1-2 events in Yerevan.

Petrosyan denies wrongdoing.

The March 1 events colloquially refer to the 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan, when clashes between security forces and protesters left 10 people, including two security officers dead. The unrest spanned from late February until late March. The events are known simply as March First because it was on this day when police troops violently dispersed protesters in downtown Yerevan.

The protests were led by First President of Armenia Levon-Ter Petrosyan, who according to official results of the election lost to Serzh Sargsyan. Ter-Petrosyan's supporters believed the election was rigged.

Robert Kocharyan was the outgoing president at the time.

Incumbent PM Nikol Pashinyan was a senior member of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s political party at the time and was coordinating the protests.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan