ARMENIAN SPEAKER SAYS GENERAL AMNESTY TO BE ANNOUNCED ON MAY 28
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May 22, 2009
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Armenian Parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamian on
Friday announced that President Serzh Sarkisian will declare next
week a general amnesty for opposition members arrested following last
year’s Armenian presidential election.
Speaking to RFE/RL on Thursday, Abrahamian said that Sarkisian will
make a statement to that effect on May 28, a national holiday. "It
will be about a general amnesty and it will be on May 28," he said.
Abrahamian made the same statement in a separate interview with the
opposition daily "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun." "Believe me, the president
will declare a general amnesty on May 28 and your comrades will be
free," he said. "I promise you that."
However, a spokesman for the influential speaker clarified the next
day that Abrahamian simply "did not rule out the possibility of a
general amnesty, expressing his good wish."
"Under the constitution of the Republic of Armenia, it is the president
of the republic who is authorized to make such a proposal, after which
only the National Assembly can declare [an amnesty,]" the official,
Nairi Petrosian, said in a statement.
Sarkisian’s office could not be reached for comment.
Some 55 associates and supporters of opposition leader Levon
Ter-Petrosian remain in prison more than 15 months after the disputed
presidential ballot. The vast majority of them have already been
tried and sentenced on charges mainly stemming from the March 1,
2008 deadly clashes in Yerevan between security forces and opposition
protesters challenging official vote results.
The Armenian opposition regards the jailed oppositionists as political
prisoners, while the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE)
believes that at least some of them were prosecuted on "seemingly
artificial or politically motivated charges." The PACE has repeatedly
threatened to impose sanctions against Yerevan if those individuals
are not set free. The Strasbourg-based body is expected to again
discuss the issue at its next session in late June.