“We did not want Armenia lose the voting right at the PACE. The PACE resolution cannot be viewed as the victory of the authorities or loss of the opposition. The PACE gave additional time to the Armenian authorities to do certain things,” said PPA leader Stepan Demirchyan during yesterday’s press conference. He says that the mentioned resolution was adopted due to the fact that the Armenian authorities promised to change the articles 225 and 300 of the criminal code. “However it is clear that all the cases brought under the mentioned laws, including the Case of Seven, are provocations. It is not a secret that such cases have been brought under other laws as well and according to the testimonies of the police only, I don’t mean the Case of Seven only, thus all political prisoners must be set free,” said Stepan Demirchyan. “The incumbent government has never fully complied with the PACE requirements. However I hope that the incumbent government will take real steps to release the political prisoners. The fact that the PACE did not deprive us of the voting right does not mean yet that the crisis is overcome,” he said. The latter believes that the 1643 resolution is also connected with the issue of Karabakh conflict resolution, “It is clear that in this phase, when the co-rapporteurs are speaking of possible settlement of the conflict, the PACE would not manage to deprive Armenia of the voting right. They are always trying to demonstrate a balanced approach. Anyway I think that this resolution will support the release of the political prisoners,” said Demirchyan.
We wander whether the opposition is going to demonstrate any protests against the actions of George Colombier and John Prescott. “I don’t think there is a need to launch such process. We are not discussing such issue. At least the mentioned information was presented by the government, and they used the information provided by the government,” he said. The latter says that it is the reason why the ANC sent delegates to the PACE. “I don‘t see anything which would contradict the state interests in providing information,” said Demirchyan concerning accusations on part of certain state officials. According to him, it would be better if the PACE delegates met with the opposition during their visit to Armenia, and there would be no need to send delegates to the PACE.
Stepan Demirchyan also spoke about the relations between the ANC and PPA. “The relations between the PPA and ANC are normal and official,” he said. “Certainly there may be different opinions concerning different issues, but there are also issues concerning which everyone has the same opinion. I mean issues concerning the constitutional order, human rights and legality in the country,” said Stepan Demirchyan. He touched upon the mayoral elections of Yerevan to take place this year. “The opposition should take part in the mayoral election. We wish the mayor of Yerevan could be elected directly by people’s vote, but we think that in such case we should participate in the election too. As for the format of participation, the ANC has not discussed this issue yet. I think it will be better if the opposition coordinates all its potential and participates in the election jointly,” said Stepan Demirchyan. He agreed with a journalist’s remark that it is time to discuss this issue at the ANC and make a decision for the future plans.