The tenth victim of bloody March 1 was 29-year-old Samvel Harutyunyan, who lived in the village of Yeghegnavan village, Ararat Province, where a year later his parents cannot come to grips with the reality of what happened.

Through her grief Samvel’s mother, Zarik, recalls events . . .

“That day he left the house at about 5:30 p.m. He went to buy baby food for his six-month-old daughter. While leaving he said he would be back in an hour. He went and never came back,” says the mother. (Family members suppose that since he found himself in Yerevan he just decided to see what was going on.)

On the morning of March 2, Zarik saw her son for just a second on a television report.

“They were showing how the police was detaining six people. They were sitting at the wall of the French Embassy, and the wall was covered with blood spots. One of the men sitting there was Samvel. They were saying that those people are suspected to have participated in mass disorder. In that video material Samvel was holding his head in his hands. He was injured,” tells Edik, Samvel’s father.

For two days the parents were supposing that their son was in police custody. They did not manage to find him there, and started looking for him elsewhere. On March 4, Samvel was found in intensive care at the Armenia Medical Center.

“When I saw him, I did not recognize him. His face and hands were swollen. It was because of a tattoo he had that I figured out that the boy laying on the bed unconscious was my son,” says the father.

For 41 days doctors struggled to save the young man, operating on him four times. On March 20 he showed some progress and was able to communicate barely.

On April 11 Zarik visited Samvel and fed her son some fruit. While feeding him, her son started adjusting the bandage on his head. When she tried to help, Zarik saw a large hole in his skull.

“I was horrified. My son, in fact, wanted to let me understand that there is a hole opened in his head. I hugged him, and I was crying; he hugged my neck by one arm. And then I left to buy clothes and food for my Samvel. He even sent me something like an air kiss,” tells the mother.

Samvel’s parents are sure that their son was shot. And they were not told about it.

The same day, at about 5:30 p.m. Edik got a phone call from the hospital. He was told that Samvel’s state abruptly worsened. Samvel died before his parents managed to reach the hospital.

According to the forensic report Samvel Harutyunyan had an open, blunt, visible wound to the brain. He died due to infection and pneumonia resulting from the wound.

“We did not get a single letter of condolence from the authorities. Only Heritage Party sent us one. Already a year passed after my Samvel’s death: I cannot even put a gravestone for him. And up to now they are investigating, whereas they could have done it long before. They simply do not need to do it, and everybody knows why they do not need it,” says Edik.