“There are real problems in Armenia today. The society is divided. There is polarization. I really think that there is a need for a professional, independent and impartial inquiry into what happened,” the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights Thomas Hammaberg told the RFE/RL. Hammarberg stopped short of describing any of the detainees as political prisoners, saying only that he urged President Robert Kocharyan and Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan to limit the ongoing prosecutions only to “those cases where there is real proof that people have committed violent crimes.” “It is important now to avoid any tendency towards bringing in people because of their political positions,” he said. “There have been cases where there were problems,” Hammarberg said of his meetings in Armenian prisons. “Some of those arrested have been beaten, which of course is not acceptable.” “Several of those I have talked to in prison feel that they are absolutely innocent and that they only expressed only their opinions. My argument was that in such cases it is necessary to provide free and fair process and the main principles of fairness must be respected,” he said. Hammarberg kept himself away from giving any political estimation to the cases of arrest. He only mentioned that gradually and step-by-step the rule of emergency is being relieved. The Council of Europe official said he also told Kocharian and Sarkisian that the recent day’s easing of civil liberty restrictions stemming from the state of emergency in Yerevan is “not sufficient” and specifically urged them to abolish “censorship” of the Armenian media. He said that is important for defusing the post-election tensions in Armenia. Hammarberg appeared to have serious misgivings about the official version of events, echoing the European Union’s calls for an independent investigation into the worst street violence in the country’s history. “I really think that there is a need for a professional, independent and impartial inquiry into what happened,” he said, adding that it should be conducted by special commission made up of individuals “trusted by the public.”
