Yesterday at the PACE session during the discussion of the resolution on Armenia there were no actual surprises because the resolution which was circulated a day prior was quite predictable. By that Armenia wouldn’t be deprived of the right to vote. The greatest surprise was brought by the head of the Heritage faction Raffi Hovhannisian. The latter refused his mandate of the Armenian delegation in the PACE. “Armenia and the PACE don’t deserve each other. I wish you good luck in your discussions and thus quit my participation in the PACE discussions and will keep doing so until Armenia gets to conform to the European standards and until Europe reaches the peek of its value system,” said Raffi Hovhannisian at the beginning of the PACE full session. He also added that there had been months since Armenia had numerous imprisoned ones, whose cases hadn’t been sent to the courts yet. “None of us should avoid saying that thee are shortcomings connected with democracy in Armenia. It is quite clear that the RA hasn’t passed the test of democracy yet. There are a few dozen of political prisoners in Armenia and they must be released not on January but now. There are numerous politicians, who are being persecuted for their political views. No criminal case has been filed regarding the March 1 events. There are no suspects. It turns out that no order was released to shoot at our people,” said Hovhannisian and added that the Armenian opposition cannot freely practice its right of conducting public rallies and demonstrations because those are conducted in the siege of numerous policemen. In fact this attitude, which contrasted from the governmental attitude, didn’t affect the decision of the PACE delegates and only later in the evening they adopted the resolution on how Armenia abides with the requirements of the resolution 1609. The PACE Monitoring Commission decided to extend the deadline for meeting the demands of the resolution 1609 on Armenia till January 2009. The commission proposed giving Armenia time till the January session of the PACE for the implementation of the resolution 1609. Co-rapporteur of the PACE Monitoring Committee John Prescott requested the PACE delegates to give another chance to the Armenian government because the three months were a short period for the full conduct of the requirements of resolution 1609. “I have met the representatives of almost all political forces of Armenia. Almost all of them were saying the same thing. The time frame was short,” said Prescott and mentioned that mentioned the steps undertaken so far. “If these requirements are not fulfilled within the mentioned period of time the PACE will have to apply sanctions. “We think that there is progress and we must be able to see the positive things undertaken.” As of the ad hoc commission to investigate the events of March 1 Prescott mentioned that he signifies the creation and functioning of the commission. He mentioned that for them the objectivity and independent investigation of the events on part of the commission is very important. That way the government will be able to recover its trust in the eyes of the society. “We think that what happened occurred in a different way. It is necessary to find out the reasons, situation and motives,” he stated. The Report welcomes the breakthroughs in release of the people arrested for artificial and politically motivated accusations and committed no violent or other grave crimes. Nevertheless, the Monitoring Committee considers Armenia’s progress in the given issue insufficient to guarantee fulfillment of PACE demands. The Resolution, in particular, says that the criminal cases under investigation must be either stopped or immediately submitted to the courts. The accusations against the people on the Articles 300 and 225 of the Criminal Code must be cancelled if there are no proofs of their violent actions or other grave crimes. Moreover, the co-rapporteur called inadmissible the fact that these people are accused only on the basis of testimonies by police officers. Testimonies by a third party are required as well. In addition, the Monitoring Committee demands the Parliament to cancel the amendments to the Articles 225 and 300 proposed by the authorities. The Assembly regrets that the dialogue with the authorities is boycotted which restricts opposition’s involvement in formulation of all the initiatives made. Thus, the point on inadmissibility of filing accusation only on the basis of police testimonies was amended. In particular the proposal of the Monitoring Committee to attract independent witnesses was omitted. The new edition of the text says that rendering of judicial decision on the basis of only police testimonies is inadmissible. To render such decisions, additional witnessing is necessary, the document says. In addition, the new edition of the text says that the criminal cases under investigation must be stopped without delay or considered by the court to guarantee the exercise of the right to fair verdict in conformity with the case-law of the European Court for Human Rights. Accusations on the proceedings on articles 300 and 225 of the Criminal Code must be cancelled if there are no hard evidences that a person made violent actions or ordered, provoked or contributed to commitment of such actions, the document says. As regards the regulations of the interim commission to investigate the incidents of March 1-2 in Yerevan, the resolution proposes adopting decisions on the basis of a consensus. It recommends resorting to exercising the right to vote only in case of extreme necessity. PACE recommends seeking methods including amnesty, pardon or stoppage of persecution of the people detained after the incident on 1 March, except those who committed violent actions or ordered, provoked or contributed to commitment of such actions. The report, in particular, says that PACE in particular admitted that the time provided to the Armenian authorities to fulfill the demands of PACE resolution was limited. For lack of time, it was impossible to assess how fully the initiatives of the authorities to fulfill the demands of the Assembly met the report. “The Ombudsman of Armenia Armen Harutyunyan, who is well respected by me, mentioned in his report, “At present the Armenian society is facing two dilemmas – development of democratic institutes or strengthening of authoritarian tendencies, which will cause fragmentation of the society.” The opposition must be strong. Only that way the government will not be able to dictate its will to the people,” said Prescott. Representative of the Unanimous Leftists Group mentioned in his speech that the past parliamentary elections of Armenia deserved a high estimation, which meant that the presidential elections would be hold in a normal way as well. However, after the elections the situation developed in a negative way. “In Armenia the resolution 1609 is considered quite serious among all the bodies and circles. The Armenian president and the Parliament chairman have numerously expressed their willingness to fulfill those requirements,” he said and added that they agree with the co- rapporteurs with the fact that the time was short for the full conduct of requirements. He also signified the role of the NA ad hoc commission and mentioned that the commission should inspire trust and credo. Therefore the suggestion of the NA of RA to involve international experts must be supported. “Indeed, it’s too bad that part of the Armenian opposition refuses to start dialog,” he said. According to him during the investigation the requirement of the laws must be strictly followed especially when dealing with the prisoners and meanwhile the sides must refuse political motivations. As a response in his speech Raffi Hovhannisian mentioned that no governmental party has so far made any offer of an actual dialog with the opposition. He also contradicted the allegations of another member of the Armenian delegation Armen Rustmyan, who claimed that the government had called for starting a dialog with the opposition. Member of the Russian delegation in the PACE Igor Chernichenko stated that he during the past four years has participated in all the elections in Armenia. During the past two months he had visited Armenia twice. He had met representatives of various non-governmental organizations and political parties. “I am not idealizing the current situation in Armenia. There are economic issues, unemployment, and unstable political situation. I am sure that the solution of these issues mostly depends on these democratic organizations, which offered resolution 1609 to the Armenian people. During this period Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan was in Russia. During my ten-minute conversation with him he mostly focused on the importance of the requirements of this resolution,” he said. “I think the only serious drawback is connected with the prisoners. This fact was mentioned by Prescott,” he said. The delegate speaking on behalf of the socialists praised Armenia and the Armenian people. He considered them optimistic and striving for democracy. “At any rate we must ask ourselves. We know that this country suffered because of the tragic events but they have always tried to strengthen democracy since their independence. Therefore, our group thinks that their democracy level shouldn’t be put in doubt and that their voting right should be maintained,” he said and added that Armenia is living a hard period in its history and the Council of Europe must support the Armenian government. “But we know that still much has to be done to overcome the crisis in Armenia. It specifically relates to the issue of the imprisoned ones,” he said by requesting the PACE not to apply strict steps for Armenia. In general, yesterday the Armenian delegation didn’t have any need to justify because the delegates of other countries were doing it instead of them. British delegate Rosh Roman also asked the PACE not to apply strict steps against Armenia. “I agree with every delegate, who claims that all the prisoners, who were imprisoned because of their political views, must be released immediately. I hope that the Armenian government will do that gesture, which is equivalent to democracy,” said Mr. Rosh by emphasizing that the time given to Armenia wasn’t enough for the full implementation of the requirements. “We hope that all the officials will abide with the assignments of the Armenian President and the NA chairman but at any rate Armenia must be offered reasonable mount of time,” he said. There were also opinions about why Armenia managed to fulfill some of the requirements while others were not. The Azerbaijani delegate said that Armenia has always been undemocratic and that is the reason that “Armenia occupied their territories.” And only the Swedish delegate offered to consider the issue of the imprisoned ones not next year but this year. “These people cannot stay imprisoned till the end of the next year. Their issue must be regulated sooner,” he said. By the way, by his suggestion the PACE Monitoring Committee made a decision to hold a hearing on the imprisoned ones on September 16-17. He offered to conduct the hearing in the fall, however by the request of the Armenian delegates it was delayed till the winter session of the PACE. “We insisted that this issue shouldn’t be discussed in the fall session because that time is not enough for the fulfillment of the requirements,” said member of the Armenian delegation Armen Rustamyan. As an alternative it was offered to conduct a hearing in fall. Yesterday prior to the discussion of the fulfillment of the requirements of the resolution 1609 a session of the Monitoring Committee was held. At the beginning the Armenian delegation presented 23 recommendations, however as the delegation member Davit Harutyunyan mentioned they refused 5 of those and the rest was voted for. “There were also compromises,” said Rustamyan. The Armenian authorities are offered to discuss all the possible mechanisms (amnesty, pardon etc.) for the release of the individuals who didn’t resort to violence during the March 1-2 disorders. Special attention was paid to the activities of the interim parliamentary committee in terms of increasing its independence and transparency of work. By the recommendation of the delegation members Naira Zohrabyan, Avet Adonts, Davit Harutyunyan and Artashes Avoyan this provision was revised and amnesty is not provided for the ones, who “provoked and initiated hooliganism.” Touching upon the most important provisions of the document, David Haroutyunyan, Head of the Armenian delegation, singled out the right to the freedom of assembly. It was particularly mentioned that the law “On Holding Assemblies, Demonstrations, Marches and Rallies” should be applied in a way not to make additional restrictions with respect to those rights or the choice of the place. The Resolution envisages special approach to the people sentenced under Articles 225 and 300 of the Criminal Code; it proposes to speedily release those who were not direct participants or accomplices in the acts of violence. Under another provision, the Assembly considers it impermissible to prosecute individuals based upon the police testimonies only. The Assembly also expresses regret that some of the opposition activists won’t comply with the Resolution’s requirement to recognize the election results and the decision of the Constitutional Court. The Armenian authorities are offered to discuss all the possible mechanisms (amnesty, pardon etc.) for the release of the individuals who didn’t resort to violence during the March 1-2 disorders. Special attention was paid to the activities of the interim parliamentary committee in terms of increasing its independence and transparency of work, As mentioned by D. Haroutyunyan, some changes have been introduced to clause 6 of the Resolution (on granting a license to “A1+” TV Company without delay), taking into consideration the fact that under the relevant law of the Republic of Armenia, a license cannot be granted directly. “Thus, the process should be carried out on competitive bases; however, it is necessary to ensure open and transparent opportunities for all the participants of the contest,” Head of the delegation clarified. According to Rustamyan the preliminary version of the resolution was unacceptable because in order to provide license to A1+ we must first of all have free frequency. Therefore that requirement of the resolution cannot be fulfilled. “I can we deprive a TV company from license and give to someone else? I also mean the sharing of frequencies. It is impossible to fulfill that requirement.” “In general we are satisfied with the results because the resolution has become more acceptable and we actually didn’t refuse to conduct any of the requirements, which we could possibly be able to do. Some of the recommendations were set for voting with the additions of the co- rapporteurs.”
P.S. We will share the information on the PACE resolution 1609 and how Armenia implemented those in our next edition.
Strasbourg-Yerevan