Armenia: during events on March 1, sniper was instructed by former internal troop's commander

At the closed hearing of the ad hoc commission of the National Assembly of Armenia for studying events on March 1, General-Lieutenant Grigor Grigoryan, ex-commander of internal troops, has confessed that on March 1 in the evening he gave an order to the sniper "to neutralize" the armed participants of the rally.

The General-Lieutenant has informed the members of the commission that he had ordered the sniper to take a convenient position and not to allow anybody to open fire on the militaries. Samvel Nikoyan, chairman of the commission, told journalists about it after the sitting.

According to Mr Nikoyan, who referred to Grigor Grigoryan's story, the sniper had informed the latter that he noticed an armed person among the protesters and shot at his leg, thus having neutralized him.

The General-Lieutenant has reported that the person who had shot at policemen is still unidentified. He also told the commission that the participants of the rally threw grenades in direction of soldiers deployed near the "Svin" shop, as a result of which several militaries were wounded, and later soldier Tigran Abgaryan died.

According to the General, the internal troops were armed with the following defence tools: rubber truncheons, shock-proof shields, plastic helmets, water cannons, special chemicals, in particular, cartridges with "Cheryomukha" gas grenades, firearms with blank cartridges, 10 special light-sound "Zarya" appliances, six of them were used, and the remaining four were returned to stock.

Immediately after events on March 1, firearms were taken away from the policemen and subjected to examination. According to ballistic examination, none of the casualties was shot dead from the firearms of the internal troops militaries.

According to Grigoryan, demonstrators were armed with metal rods, "hedgehogs", stones, bottles with "Molotov cocktail", combat grenades, firearms and "Zarya" special appliances.

The ex-commander has noted that the weapons in hands of the protesters was intended more likely to frighten the policemen. The General-Lieutenant has assured the members of the ad hoc parliamentary commission that the actions of the police had defence character, while those of the demonstrators were nicely organized, not spontaneous, as many still think.

Samvel Nikoyan has informed journalists that the sniper had addressed the body of preliminary investigation of March 1 events asking to take measures to ensure his safety.

He has also reported that the commission had addressed the US Embassy asking for help in holding a ballistic examination of "Cheremukha-7" capsules found in the bodies of three casualties.