Ruben Rubinyan Responds to Levin Kocharyan: They Were Self-Defending, Not Against You, But Your Father

Parliament Speaker Ruben Rubinyan responded in the parliament to the speech of Levon Kocharyan, a deputy from the 'Armenia' faction, addressing the events of March 1, 2008.

According to Rubinyan, force was used against people gathered in Freedom Square on the morning of March 1, 2008, when, he claims, they were not engaging in any violent actions. ‘Then you put out a recording where Nikol Pashinyan says, take items, defend yourselves. Of course, they should have taken items to defend themselves because just a few hours before, special forces had attacked people. They were self-defending. They weren’t defending against you; they were defending against your father,’ said Rubinyan.

He also stated that the criminal prosecution of Nikol Pashinyan in 2008 was illegal, recalling that the European Court of Human Rights determined that the responsibility for the 10 victims of March 1 was attributed to the state, which was then led by Robert Kocharyan.