Yesterday Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights released his human rights report on Armenia based on the results of his January visit to Armenia.
It was supposed to be issued on May 2 but according to certain information it was sent to the authorities in advance, who have asked for some time to address to some of the concerns included in there. Hammarberg’s report was pretty rough and it included a number of demands to the government. Let us recall that the report focuses on human rights issues related to the March 2008 events, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association, and the human rights situation in the army. "Some significant steps have been taken to address the human rights consequences of the March 2008 events, but more needs to be done to promote reconciliation in society and reinforce public trust towards the authorities", said Hammarberg. The Commissioner considers that the use of force on 1-2 March 2008 was excessive and that the investigation into the ten deaths has not been effective. "None of the perpetrators have been identified to date. Command responsibility of senior officials within the police and the security services appears not to have been seriously considered. The Armenian authorities should pursue vigorously these investigations and bring all those responsible to account. The families of the ten victims should receive adequate compensation for the loss of their relatives and should be fully associated to and informed about the investigation." The Commissioner welcomes the recent instruction from President Sargsyan with regard to the investigation into the death cases and hopes that this will be translated into concrete progress in identifying and punishing those responsible. While welcoming the release of many of those deprived of their liberty in connection to the March 2008 events, three of whom were released after his visit, the Commissioner continues to have serious concerns about the situation of remaining imprisoned opposition activists and urges the Armenian authorities to release them. The report also pays particular attention to freedom of expression, including freedom and diversity of the media. While welcoming the decriminalization of libel and insult through last year’s amendments to the Criminal Code, the Commissioner remains concerned about the increase of cases brought against media outlets on the basis of amendments to the Civil Code. He stresses that unreasonably high fines in civil cases relating to media should be avoided. At the same time, ethical standards for journalism and a system of self-regulation should be encouraged. Up until now these reports mostly signified the investigation of the culprits of March 1 events but there was no demand for redress of grievances. This demand was raised by Levon Ter-Petrosyan during one of his speeches. According to the member of the ANC and former member of the fact-finding committee Andranik Kocharyan the state should have a clear obligation to the relatives of victims even in the case of redress. And this can be done only when the rest of the actions were taken into account – investigate and punish the ones, who gave orders and all the culprits.
Is this demand of the PACE human rights defender’s requirement? The head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Davit Harutyunyan finds that “there are many fair demands in the world, which cannot be done every time”. The problem is that our country has not ratified the human rights European convention resolution obligating compensation in such situations. The MP, however, agrees with the demand connected with the victims of March 1 and says that this demand should have been raised “by us” too. “I really agree that the police did not act well that day. If they worked well, there would not be so many victims. That is the reason why reforms are being done in the police system. As for compensation, I think Hammarberg’s approach is the reflection of the European approach,” says Davit Harutyunyan.
The monitoring of the reforms in the police system as specified in the report of the commission looking into the events of March 1 is done by the NA standing committee on state and legal affairs, which is headed by Davit Harutyunyan. In his report Hammarberg appreciated Serzh Sargsyan’s recent instructions to activate the investigation of those events and expressed hope that it would result in concrete improvements in finding and punishing the real culprits. The commitment to discover the crime of that day was one of the opposition’s three demands, which Levon Ter-Petrosyan considered fulfilled. A.Kocharyan thinks that Sargsyan’s assurances are very important due to the fact that during the past three years for the first time the authorities accept the fact that the case of March 1 has not been discovered and gave a commitment to do that. “Life will show whether they will do it or no. The case of March 1 is discovered by the society as people know everything perfectly, the only thing that has to be done is the legal formulation and procedures. The real culprits and people that gave the orders of that crime must be punished. Those are high rank officials starting with Robert Kocharyan and ending up with power structures and officials. I think that the discovering should start from the order 0038 and the use of police during the morning events. So far we do not know what happened that morning. The investigation of the place should not be done that way; it is totally different procedure,” he said.
Hammarberg paid a special attention also to the right of free expression, media and speech freedom. He also appreciates the amendments to the criminal code that were done last year, according to which the articles on blackmail were amended and blackmailing is not subject to criminal punishment. However he is concerned of the large number of court cases against media companies and says that in such situations they should not impose unjustified large penalties. Hammarberg also petitions the authorities to condemn the pressure on journalists during the past two years and also prevent the continuation of such pressure in the future as well. Hammarberg is also concerned about the limitations on demonstrations and the right for peaceful gatherings and demonstrations. He petitions to immediately stop the arrests of opposition activists during demonstrations, limitations of the movement of means of transport and rejection for holding gatherings in specific areas. It is also important to make sure that the methods and actions of the police comply with the HR requirements. Hammarberg petitions the authorities of Armenia to revise the legislation concerning the rights for free expression, media freedom and holding peaceful actions in order to make them consistent with HR requirements. Zaruhi Postanjyan, member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE and representative of Heritage faction agrees with Hammarberg and believes that by bringing media companies to courts they want to force the opponent newspaper to bankruptcy for the purpose of shutting them down. “I totally agree with the opinion that in our country the right for organizing free gatherings is violated. It has been the same on March 1 and after that, and it still continues. The proof of that point is the fact that the government limited the right for peaceful gathering near the building of the government on March 3. This was not only an illegal intimidation but a criminally punishable action,” says the MP.
Davit Harutyunyan did not comment on the court cases against newspapers. “Everything depends on the proofs and justifications of the parties in the courts. I understand that Mr. Hammarberg may be concerned about that but it does not mean anything for me yet. As for the point about peaceful gatherings, I have numerously said that it is about organizing peaceful gatherings but not the random selection of the place. From this prospective our approaches are different,” he said.
There is a demand in Hammarberg’s report, which is not acceptable by the opposition. It concerns the alternative service. Hammarberg is recommending to establish a totally civic service mechanism, the duration of which should not be accepted as punishing or discriminating approach. He recommends to release the people arrested for escaping from the service in the army. “This requirement is not acceptable from me because our country is in neither peace nor war situation. Do you imagine what will happen in our armed forces if the state does that requirement? I don’t agree with that opinion and the existing law should be applied. If the members of these religious groups do not want to serve in the army fully, they can choose the alternative service. But it is dangerous too because many people may join sects to escape from the army. This is a serious danger and our country cannot simply do that,” says A. Kocharyan.