Yesterday the discussion on the conclusion and recommendations regarding the amendments to the Armenian law on assemblies, rallies, marches and demonstrations was over at the National Assembly. The experts of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR recommended revising the law to solve three main problems. On the basis of agreement with the OSCE/ODIHR experts a bill of amendments to the law will be drafted which will be extended to the experts by April 25. After the conclusion of the experts the bill will be discussed and voted. The experts recommended revising the procedure for the verification of reliability of information used in risk assessment and public order decision-making, which appears to foreclose or limit the opportunity for such decisions to be reviewed by an independent tribunal or court; the absence of any express geographical limitation or timeframe “sunset” clause; the elimination of the provision that allowed smaller events to develop spontaneously into “mass” assemblies. The chairman of the NA Tigran Torosyan said the following to the Liberty reporter when asked about starting a dialog with Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team, “The behavior of Ter-Petrosyan’s team has showed that they have never had any intention to cooperate with the government and start dialog.” The spokesman of Ter-Petrosyan Arman Musinyan in his turn told the Liberty that in his speech at the Constitutional Court Ter-Petrosyan was for a dialog with the government. “However the government has not undertaken any steps in that regard. They only make empty promises,” said Musinyan.
