ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES BILL AMENDING LAW ON RALLIES IN FIRST READING
Interfax News Agency
May 20 2008
Russia
A bill amending the Law on Assemblies, Rallies, Marches and
Demonstrations, was passed in its first reading in the Armenian
parliament on Tuesday.
The bill was approved in a 93 to 6 vote, an Interfax correspondent
reports. The opposition Heritage party faction voted against the bill.
The amendments had been drafted and submitted for debates after
proposals by experts of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission
were taken into account. The bill details the procedure of providing
information about the events planned, obliging the organizers to
notify the local authorities at least two days in advance.
The bill also has a new provision regarding spontaneous events,
which says that such events must not last longer than six hours.
Amendments to the law on rallies and marches were proposed by President
Robert Kocharian on March 18, after the tragic events in Yerevan on
March 1.
Following the presidential election on February 19, the opposition,
led by ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosian, who was also running, refused
to recognize the election outcome and organized mass protest rallies
which deteriorated into clashes with police on March 1, in which ten
people were killed and over 250 sustained injuries.