On February 2 the PACE co-rapporteurs John Prescott and Georges Colombier released a statement, by which they demand that “the Armenian government shall immediately abide with all the suggested reforms.”
The statement related to the implementation of the social-economic and legal-political recommendations of the report of the ad hoc commission on the investigation of the tragic events of March 1-2. “The implementation of the suggested reforms offered by the ad hoc commission and the implementation of the released PACE resolutions will enable to jointly examine the circumstances, which caused the tragic events of March 1-2 of 2008,” said the co-rapporteurs. They have emphasized that the assignments and recommendations related to the police and election code must be implemented without lingering. The co-rapporteurs have even demanded a clear timeline for the conduct of these reforms. Prescott and Colombier also said that they intend to raise “the issue of the sentencing” of Pashinyan and other jailed oppositionists when they visit Yerevan this spring. “A number of issues following the events of 1 and 2 March still need to be clarified and addressed,” they said in a statement. The PACE has repeatedly demanded the immediate release of supporters of opposition leader arrested on what it considers “seemingly artificial or politically motivated charges.” The June amnesty is believed to have been the result of PACE threats to impose sanctions against Armenia. Last week the head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Davit Harutyunyan told us “one cannot go too far with just words. The PACE demands concrete results. On March 17 they are expecting concrete and tangible results from our end.” “I will be ready to present this if the necessary reforms are conducted. If those are not ready I cannot speak about those. As of whether the country is ready or not I think yes. But such decisions are jointly made by coalition forces. So the statement was made yesterday and the coalition will make a decision on what should be done,” added Harutyunyan. Let us remember that the NA has assigned the NA standing committee on legal issues headed by Davit Harutyunyan to plan and implement the reforms and recommendations brought by the PACE. Almost 10 days have passed since the statement of the co-rapporteurs and Davit Harutyunyan’s interview to us. Yesterday we tried to find out whether the coalition forces have conducted any joint or separate discussions over this issue and whether they have clarified the timeline of activities. It turned out that the three coalition partners the Republican, Legal State and Prosperous Armenia parties haven’t yet discussed the activities and time frames of the PACE demands. This means that the timeline of the co-rapporteurs isn’t yet ready. When speaking to us the head of the Republican parliamentary faction Galust Sahakyan said regardless of the demands of the PACE and timelines offered by them his party is willing to conduct necessary reforms in the police, judicial branches and amend the election code. “Even besides Prescott’s analysis the report of the ad hoc committee already stipulates the conduct of reforms. Regardless of the March 1 events the platform of the RPA is aimed at implementing reforms. I don’t consider this any kind of pressure on us. I just consider this our issue and I am sure that this process will be speeded up. The reforms will be related to the judicial system. We are already discussing the reforms related to the police,” said Sahakyan. Thus, even two years after the events of March 1 the main ruling force of the government the Republican party has not only refused to abide with the requirements of the PACE but also its promises included in the pre-election platform. “If it’s necessary to develop a some kind of timetable it is a factor based on Armenia’s interests. So I don’t think we will have any issues with the PACE. Davit Harutyunyan’s committee is conducting monitoring in this direction. We will try to resolve these issues. So there is no need to worry,” inspired with hope Sahakyan. Indeed, besides the RPA there cannot possibly be discussion between the Legal State and the Prosperous Armenia. The new member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE Artsrun Aghajanyan from the Legal State party told us via telephone that he was in Gyumri and wasn’t aware of anything. And a Prosperous Armenia member Naira Zohrabyan said that the issue wasn’t discussed with the coalition partners perhaps because Harutyunyan Davit wasn’t in the country. Mr. Harutyunyan is in Ukraine and has been following the election procedures in Ukraine. “Indeed this issue has been discussed within this party and we also have the opinion that we should do our best to demonstrate the road map on March 17, which would help to move on. That way we will be able to resolve the issues that have existed in the past As of the issues, which are in the power frame of the parliament, specifically the amendment of the election code, a special working group has already been established in the NA, which is in charge of revision of the code. As a result of long lasting discussion the main recommendations to the code will be revealed and discussed to be ratified,” said Zohrabyan. Let us also add that after this statement of the co- rapporteurs the ANC announced that he will submit his own package of amendments to the PACE. During a phone conversation with us the ANC coordinator Levon Zurabyan told that working groups have been established for this purpose and that the issue is being examined. “Armenia is currently in a deep political crisis. It was originated due to the presidential elections of February 19 of 2008 and the latter resulted in the tragic events of March 1. In order to overcome this crisis we will be elaborating the events, which according to the Congress will lead out the country from the crisis. Now we are accepting recommendations and ideas from various political groups and parties. Those will later be articulated and joint package will be established and a special schedule of activities will be developed. I think that at the beginning of March we will hand in our recommendations to the Monitoring Commission,” said Zurabyan. By the way, soon the ANC will publicize its economic program, which according to Zurabyan will offer structural changes for the prevention of the gradually growing crisis.