Armenian Parliament supports amnesty

The Armenian National Assembly has approved the draft law "On Amnesty", initiated by the President of the country Serzh Sargsyan, when 91 MPs voted for it, and one MP abstained. The amnesty was announced in connection with the 20th anniversary of independence of the Republic of Armenia to be marked on September 21.

It is supposed that 396 prisoners will be set free, 379 more will have their punishment mitigated. 153 more persons, who are currently under investigation, may also be released if they plead guilty. Besides, those who figure in the case on mass disorders on March 1, 2008, where 10 persons were lost and more than 200 others were wounded, will also be released.

"I'm happy that under this amnesty a certain group of people will be released. This will help us to get rid of the unpleasant everyday necessity to remember sad facts of the past, but we should not calm ourselves thinking that everything is over," Grayr Tovmasyan, Minister of Justice told reporters after voting.

When asked whether the amnesty has to do with the "March 1" case, Mr Tovmasyan said: "Everyone is free in his assumptions, and everyone is entitled to draw his own conclusions. But I must say that we have a broader goal." According to his story, the amnesty will cover the oppositionists arrested in connection with the events of March 1, 2008, namely: Sasun Mikaelyan, Ara Ovannisyan and Nikol Pashinyan.

Natalia Martirosyan, co-chair of the Armenian Committee of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, treated this step, in her interview with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, as positive; however, she pointed out that this measure is too late.

Mikael Danielyan, another human rights activist and chairman of the Helsinki Association, also welcomed the amnesty. "It will allow many prisoners get at large; however, at the same time the problem of overcrowded prisons won't be solved, as new prisoners will come instead," the human rights activist told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to Mr Danielyan, by adopting the amnesty, the authorities wanted to please the international community. "The decision to release political prisoners, aimed at reducing the tension in the country, was imposed from outside. However, there would be no international pressure without the pressure from within the country," said the human rights activist.

Eduard Sharmazanov, press secretary of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, said that "the amnesty has very serious social and political implications, because as a result we can alleviate the current tense political situation; and, of course, there are issues of solidarity, domestic political dialogue and humanistic values in general."

Ovannes Igityan, a representative of the oppositional Armenian National Congress (ANC), is sure that the amnesty as a whole is a political step, which indicates a change in attitude of the authorities to this or that particular crime. "In Armenia, many people view the amnesty as a manifestation of president's humanism; however, the only aim of the amnesty was to reduce the level of external pressure; since virtually all international institutions raised the issue of political prisoners and the need to ensure the freedom of protest actions," said the ANC activist.

Let us note here that the only MP, who abstained at voting for the amnesty, was Tigran Torosyan, former speaker of the National Assembly; he told reporters that he "could not vote against the amnesty, because there are some people in prisons, who shouldn't have been there at all. On the other hand, I couldn't vote for amnesty, since it is not a typical process for a normal and mature country."