Top military official says army wasn’t ordered to open fire during March 1 events

The army wasn’t ordered to open gunfire in the March 1 events, claims Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Artak Davtyan.

Davtyan served as head of the tactical department of the defense ministry during the events in 2008.

“The army wasn’t given an order to shoot on March 1. The army did not shoot, if shots were fired then it was fired by individual servicemen. They haven’t been ordered to shoot,” he said.

He also said that the border activities of the armed forces during those days proceeded normally.

“The frontline wasn’t depleted. Combat work was ordinary. The border wasn’t weakened during the March 1 days,” he said.

Earlier the head of the Special Investigative Service Sasun Khachatryan said that the probe into the case has revealed that not only has the army taken part in the March 1 events, but it has also opened fire in the direction of civilians.