The speaker of the Armenian parliament Hovik Abrahamyan will be present at the discussion on the issue of Armenia at the PACE scheduled for June 24. This was announced by the head of the Prosperous Armenia faction Naira Zohrabyan during yesterday’s Q&A session.
According to our information, Hovik Abrahamyan is going to have a long speech about major “improvements” in Armenia. As for the PACE’s requirement that there must not be any persons imprisoned for political attitudes, i.e. political prisoners, this issue will be solved before the session as well. It means that as usually it is done the government of Armenia will again pledge that the issue is in the process of solution. It depends on the draft on granting amnesty to the political prisoners, which definitely will be submitted to the parliament next week during the extraordinary session. According to our information, the head of the standing commission on legal and state affairs David Harutyunyan is working on the draft on amnesty. The latter has said that the amnesty will not concern the ones who are searched, i.e. MP Khachatur Sukiassian and chief editor of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper Nicol Pashinyan. Even though the authorities have decided to keep the content of the draft in secret and not to let outflow of information concerning the specific people to be released, we tried to get some information concerning the provisions of the draft. According to our information, the draft will explain the demand of the amnesty with the fact that there is public demand, and in addition to the demand of the society the public chamber has asked to grant amnesty as well. The draft also will write that the president, being led by the principles of humanism and based on the RA Constitution, “has decided to grant amnesty.” The draft will recommend the parliament to adopt the draft on granting amnesty to the citizens subject to up to three years imprisonment and conditional release, as well as disabled people of the first and second classes, citizens of 60 years old and more, and children under 18 who have not been convicted before. As for the other people who are in prisons and are not covered by the amnesty draft, the government intends to set them free through other means. Thus, they will include a standard provision in the amnesty text writing that it is applicable to the citizens who have been war participants and participated in the liberation wars of the fatherland. Also, the people who are children, parents or spouses of war victims, will be set free too.
Several volunteers fighters of the war will be set free based on this provision. However, there are rumors that there may be another provision limiting the release of certain political prisoners as well. Specifically, this concerns MPs Sasun Mikayelyan and Myasnik Malkhasyan. According to the same source of information, the people who have not been convicted for purposeful crime before and have been sentenced to maximum five years of imprisonment but have passed one thirds of this term as of the date of the amnesty should be set free as well. Plus, it is possible that the people who have been imprisoned for maximum ten years but have passed half of this term may be set free too. The prosecutor’s office is suggesting to give more than five years of imprisonment to the ones arrested as a result of the events of March 1-2. If this provision is included in the draft too, most of them may be released. Plus, they want to stop the control over the people who have been released conditionally. The draft may also contain a provision, according to which the criminal cases in investigation departments and courts contemplating up to three years of imprisonment may be stopped too. It may concern the crimes and the relative cases contemplating up to five years of imprisonment, which have been committed by negligence. It is also worth mentioning that there will be another provision in the draft, according to which certain prisoners will not be released fully but for the half of their punishment.