The report of John Prescott and Georges Colombier, the PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteurs on Armenia, which had to be published on December 17 but was not, is available now.
We were told about this by the ARF representative in Armenia’s delegation to the PACE Armen Rustamyan. At the session on December 17 John Prescott and Georges Colombier were to comment on the report of the NA ad hoc looking into the events of March 1. Both of the co-rapporteurs failed to be present at the session, thus they did not comment on the report. However, the monitoring commission has decided to make the report available to the Armenian delegation.
According to Armen Rustamyan, in their report Prescott and Colombier have included all the phases of Nikoyan’s report and the issues to be discussed at the sessions of the ad hoc. The ARF representative says some parts of the report have been popsitive but the co-rapporteurs expressed concerns about some other issues. Specifically, they expressed concerns about the fact that the commission reported that the “actions of the police were proportional and lawful” in case when the of Cheryomukha 7 weapons on part of the police resulted in the death of 3 civilians. The conclusion of the ad hoc concerning the complaints of the arrested people and generally the arrests following March 1 was not estimated positively either. It is worth mentioning that in this report the co-rapporteurs failed to use the term “political prisoners” too. They do not have any reservations about the state of emergency on March 1-20 but positively estimated the part of Nikoyan’s report on the investigation of the 10 deaths, the examination of the death circumstances and failure to discover the ones who committed those killings. The co-rapporteurs not only discussed Nikoyan’s report but also failed to make recommendations how to overcome or correct the shortcomings in it. Definitely such recommendations will be developed at the PACE plenary session in January, of course if Armenia’s issue is included in the agenda of discussions. “Generally it was an objective report,” said Rustamyan.
Rustamyan complains that the co-rapporteurs have not attached the ARF’s special opinion to the report. “They promised to correct this shortcoming as soon as we translate and send the special opinion to them,” said A. Rustamyan.
The head of the Armenian delegation to the PACE Davit Harutyunyan said the following concerning the report: “If I don’t agree with some points it does not mean that they have not tried to be objective. I think the two co-chairmen are acting by the call of their conscience. From this point of view the report is objective,” said the RPA representative. Concerning the point whether the police actions were disproportionate or lawful he said the co-rapporteurs had sufficient grounds to make that conclusion. “Did they use the appropriate weapons or no? I have my own questions too and I believe from this point of view the police have much to do,” said D.Harutyunyan. Another member of the Armenian delegation, Heritage party representative Zaruhi Postanjyan refused to speak of the co-rapporteurs’ report but informed that he was writing a compliant letter to the PACE general secretary writing that Prescott and Colombier were not present at the monitoring session. She believes it is connected with the issue of the Armenian-Turkish relations. The MP also informed that he had taken a draft of twenty letters to distribute to the delegates. “The mentioned draft includes the letters of the parents of the deceased people, who wrote in their letters that they did not trust the investigation. There were also letters informing that 15 people had been jailed for their political attitudes and there are people with sicknesses among them too. There was a letter about use of armed forces on March 1 and announcing state of emergency. It informs that they don’t let Nikol Pashinyan participate in pre-election campaign in equal conditions. We are informing that the criminal case against Khachatur Sukiasyan still continues and they are intimidating on his businesses. The families of the killed people and I were demanding from them to discuss Armenia’s issue at the plenary session,” said Z. Postanjyan and added that Davit Harutyunyan had taken one copy of this draft from him as well.
The MP says that they have also demanded to appoint a special reporter on the issue of March 1-2. Georges Colombier and John Prescott are the co-rapporteurs on the Armenian democratic institutes because our country is still under monitoring. The co-rapporteurs’ report will not be discussed at the PACE plenary session in the end of January because it failed to be approved at the plenary session of the monitoring commission. The next session of the monitoring commission will take place during the plenary session in January, during which this report will not be discussed even if it is approved. At the best it may be discussed at the PACE spring session. It is not excluded that they may discuss not this report but the amended version. Even though Colombier’s and Prescott’s report has been made available but has not been published yet. In Armenia only the members of the delegation and several officials know about the content of the report.