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Armenia’s second president Robert Kocharyan and CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov have arrived at Special Investigative Service (SIS) of Armenia for interrogation of the so-called March 1 events - the post presidential election crackdown in 2008 during which eight civilians and two police officers were killed.

To remind, a month ago the SIS announced that it had charged Armenia’s then defense minister Mikael Harutyunyan with illegally mobilizing Armenia’s Armed Forces against peaceful demonstrators, saying it amounted to a “breach of constitutional order” and issued an arrest warrant for him. Later the Service invited former president Robert Kocharyan for interrogation in its ongoing investigation into the March 1.

Kocharyan, who served then as Armenia’s president declared a 20-day state of emergency, with the approval of the Armenian parliament, banning future demonstrations and censoring the media from broadcasting any political news except those issued by official state press releases.

The decision was justified on the grounds that a minority of demonstrators looted a nearby grocery store on Mashtots Avenue and set fire to a handful of police vehicles and buses.

Meanwhile Yuri Khachaturov who served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces at the time of March 1, 2008 is also interrogated at the Special Investigative Service.