Oppositional members of fact-finding group are sure the group is deliberately disorganized

Seda Safaryan and Andrannik Kocharyan, members of the fact-finding group set up to investigate the opposition's clashes with the police on March 1, 2008, in Yerevan, who had been nominated to the group by the opposition, told journalists that purposeful actions to disrupt their work began after their decision to publish the final report on May 19.

Both of them have assured that, despite the semi-ruined format of this body, they continue working with their full responsibility. At the same time, according to their story, the group cannot be regarded as disbanded, since it still formally includes Gevork Tovmasyan, a member from the ruling coalition, who, however, takes no part in its work.

According to Mr Kocharyan, the collapse of the group is a hazard for the authorities: "Robert Avakyan, who represented the ruling power in the group, said in his statement that should the group get disbanded, the oppositional members would publish all the available materials themselves."

In her comments on resignation from the group of Vage Stepanyan, Ombudsman's representative, and Robert Avakyan, Seda Safaryan has noted: "They've chosen not to look back at the reasons of police officer's death, but forward; that is, they understood what the final report could look like and would not put their signatures under it."

At the same time, she still hopes that her colleagues in the group will return and continue working. "They should do it in the name of the ten innocent victims of March 1," Ms Safaryan has emphasized.

Ms Safaryan and Mr Kocharyan have characterized the statement of Samvel Nikoyan, chairman of the interim parliamentary commission for studying events of March 1, 2008, that his commission is ready to study separate reports of group members as another attempt to disorganize the work of the group.

Meanwhile, Samvel Nikoyan has refuted any rumours about possible deliberate disruption of the group. "I'm a party in interest; and I want them to go on with their work," he said.