09 May 2008, 14:10
Fulfilment of PACE's Resolution treated differently in Armenia
David Petrosyan, a political analyst of the News Agency "Noyan Tapan", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Armenia de facto fails to follow the requirements of the recent PACE session as presented in Resolutions No. 1609.
In Mr Petrosyan's opinion, one of the main requirements of the Resolution was to release all the detained supporters of the opposition. The overwhelming majority of opposition activists are not just in custody, but the courts, while obeying the instructions from the prosecutor's office, are extending custody terms.
According to his story, the parliament of the country is deliberately procrastinating with cancelling the amendments to the Law "On Holding Rallies, Marches and Demonstrations", which essentially restrict the right to the freedom of assembly and vest the authorities with broad powers to ban at their own discretion political rallies and demonstrations.
In the opinion of Avet Adonts, chairman of the permanent parliamentary commission on European integration matters of the National Assembly and a member of the faction "Prospering Armenia", Armenia has already made two important steps towards implementing PACE's Resolution No. 1609. The first step was to set up, upon the President's instruction, a working group in charge of supervising the observance of the requirements of the Resolution, and the second step was the fulfilment of the requirements concerning the legislation. In particular, negotiations have already been held by representatives of the National Assembly of Armenia and the Venetian Commission of the Council of Europe to discuss the amendments to the Law "On Holding Rallies, Marches and Demonstrations".
Author: Lilit Ovanisyan, CK correspondent
