HAK (Armenian National Congress) Coordinator Levon Zurabyan strongly criticized the PACE Monitoring Group’s report dealing with the events of March 1, 2008 and the conclusions it reached during a press interview today. Mr. Zurabyan argued that the report was one-sided and that there was a glaring absence of any criticism directed towards the Armenian authorities for the tragic events that took place and their subsequent exposition. The HAK official described the report’s laying most of the blame for the ensuing political polarization in Armenia on the shoulders of the opposition and Levon Ter-Petrosyan, in particular, as “tragic” and that it damaged the credibility of the PACE report. Mr. Zurabyan read excerpts of an official HAK statement regarding the PACE report which noted that the co-rapporteurs found that the work carried out by the parliamentary ad-hoc committee headed by Nikoyan was flawed and that it shied away from an objective analysis of the events that took place. The HAK statement noted that attempts by the authorities to close the page on March 1^st were not permissible given that the PACE report argued that any attempt to do so would be equivalent to burying the truth behind the death of ten people. He added that petitions by the family members of the March 1^st victims and new evidence compiled by the parliamentary fact-finding committee would be submitted to the PACE session in January. When asked to comment on the ARF as an opposition party, Mr. Zurabyan chuckled and said, “We have information that three top ARF officials, Vahan Hovhannisyan, Armen Rustamyan and Hrand Margaryan, met with Gagik Harutyunyan at the Constitutional Court yesterday. I must state that the ARF coordinates all its activities with the government.” Turning to the ongoing trial of Nikol Pashinyan, reporters asked Mr. Zurabyan to comment on the prosecutor’s demand that the jailed editor of “Haykakan Zhamanak” be sentenced to eight years. “We all know Prosecutor Piloyan. He isn’t a professional prosecutor but rather a butcher. Let me say that all those complicit in the case are executioners. They would probably demand a sentence of death by hanging if it weren’t for the fact that the criminal code doesn’t offer such an option,” Mr. Zurabyan stated. The HAK official said that public meetings would once again be organized but that he couldn’t give a specific date. “The authorities wish is that the page on the March 1^st events be closed for good. But it will never be closed until those truly guilty are exposed,” he stated. Mariam Mughdousyan