The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted a resolution entitled Fulfillment of the Council’s 1609 Resolution on the part of Armenia. As it had been suggested, the term of fulfillment of the resolution on the part of Armenia was prolonged till the January session of the PACE. There are some minor changes in the final version of the resolution, but some of the main requirements are still in effect, which concern the law on organizing rallies, marches and demonstrations, releasing the citizens charged under 225 and 300 articles of the criminal code, establishing an ad hoc commission in charge of investigating the events of March 1, etc. Specifically, it is suggested that the commission acts in agreement and puts issues for voting only as a last option. It is suggested to give an advisory vote to the ombudsman in that commission and also assign the EU human rights assignee to coordinate the work of the international experts. The resolution writes that if before the January session it is determined that Armenia has failed to perform some of the requirements, it is possible that the Council may discuss the issue of depriving Armenia’s delegation from the voting right. Member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, the head of Heritage party Raffi Hovhannisyan dropped his mandate and announced that he was ceasing his work with the PACE as long as the Armenian state does not correspond with his and the EU standards.
