Two more senior officials charged in “March 1” case
The Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Armenia (RA) has announced that criminal prosecutions have been initiated against two former police officials, Robert Melkonyan and Valeri Osipyan, in connection with the “March 1” events. At the time, they held the positions of Commander and Deputy Commander of the Yerevan Patrol-Guard Service Regiment, respectively.
According to investigative data, they organized operations to disperse peaceful protesters conducting a sit-in at Liberty Square through the use of violence and special measures.
As a reminder, starting from February 20, 2008, the opposition in Yerevan, led by the first RA President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, held protests against the presidential election results. On March 1, the events escalated into mass unrest, resulting in 10 deaths and more than 200 injuries.
In a ruling published last September, the European Court of Human Rights recorded that Armenia had violated the right to life in the cases of most of the victims.
Four years ago, the second RA President Robert Kocharyan and his three former high-ranking subordinates were acquitted in the “March 1” case; however, the case was reopened a year ago. Last month, the Anti-Corruption Court upheld the decisions on new charges against Robert Kocharyan, Seyran Ohanyan, Yuri Khachaturov, and Armen Gevorgyan.
In August 2025, it became known that Sasha Afyan, a former Deputy Chief of Police, once again holds the status of an accused person in the same case.
