Parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamyan rejected to a call made by MP Aram Manoukyan that ruling coalition legislators back the formation of a special committee to look into the events of March 1, 2008.  

Abrahamyan, a Republican Party member, said his party highly respects the first president of Armenia [Levon Ter-Petrossian] and could not take steps to prosecute him for responsibility for the ten deaths that took place six years ago.

(Ter-Petrossian lost in his presidential bid against Serzh Sargsyan and claimed the election was fraudulent. He then led a series of mass protests that culminated in the March 1 events in which ten individuals were killed)

“We cannot carry out your desires in this respect. The Republican Party faction and the coalition have never assumed the role of a prosecutor. Leave it to them and the judges,” Abrahamyan responded.