At a government sponsored rally today to mark the thirteenth anniversary of the March 1, 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan charged defense lawyers with pulling out all the stops to postpone the trial looking into the death of eight civilians and two law enforcement officers.

“They are obviously procrastinating, because some people are hoping to seize the power that belongs to the people, as before," said Pashinyan, referring to representatives of the Homeland Salvation Movement, a loose coalition of a dozen or so political forces calling for his resignation.

Pashinyan said that the government in 2008 deployed the army against peaceful protesters and then hid all incriminating evidence.

Pashinyan, who was Levon Ter Petrosyan’s right-hand man during the 2008 protests and a leading street activist, has been criticized by some for dragging his heels on the March 1 case investigation.

Pashinyan went into hiding during the government crackdown following the protests and sentenced to seven years when he reemerged in 2009.