On March 6, a prosecutor approved the indictment and sent to court the criminal case against three defendants in connection with the March 1, 2008 events in Armenia.

The case concerns Robert Melkonyan, who in 2008 served as commander of the Yerevan Police Patrol Service Regiment, his deputy Valery Osipyan, and Karen Movsisyan, commander of a company within the same regiment.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the investigation conducted by the Anti-Corruption Committee established that following alleged violations during the February 19, 2008 presidential election, peaceful protests were organized in Freedom Square in Yerevan starting February 20.

Investigators say that on March 1, 2008 at around 06:30, acting on an obviously illegal order by the head of the Armenian police, officers—including members of the patrol regiment—dispersed the sit-in using force and special means.

During the operation, hundreds of peaceful demonstrators, including those staying overnight in tents at the square, were forcibly removed.

Prosecutors state that Melkonyan, Osipyan and Movsisyan have been charged with abuse of official powers accompanied by violence and the use of special means, committed in cooperation with other police officials.

They were charged under Article 38-309, Part 2 of the Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003.

The Prosecutor’s Office also recalled that on March 3, 2026, the case against another defendant in the March 1 investigation—Hovhannes Tamamyan, former first deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Armenian police—was also sent to court.

According to investigators, early on March 1, 2008, Tamamyan allegedly ordered police officers without justification to beat a participant of the protest in Freedom Square and take him to the Department for Combating Organized Crime.

Prosecutors also noted that on August 11, 2025, Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan overturned a 2020 decision to terminate criminal proceedings against former deputy police chief Sasha Afyan. Charges were refiled under the same article, and the case materials were sent to court on January 9, 2026.

Persons accused of a crime are presumed innocent until their guilt is proven in court by a legally binding verdict in accordance with criminal procedure law.