THE RAPPORTEURS ADDRESS TO PACE
Panorama.am
16:17 27/01/2009
On the request of the Monitoring Committee, we visited Armenia for
meetings with the authorities on 15 January 2009. The aim of our
visit was to assess if any progress had been made with regard to
resolving the issue of persons deprived of their liberty in relation
to the events on 1 and 2 March 2008 and to urge the authorities to
take concrete steps with regard to this issue in order to avoid the
application of sanctions in respect of the Armenian Delegation to
the Parliamentary Assembly, as proposed by the Monitoring Committee
at its meeting of 17 December 2008.
All government officials we met, as well as the President of the
Republic, stressed the intention of the authorities to resolve the
issue of persons deprived of their liberty as a result of the events
on 1 and 2 March 2008. The President pointed out that, to date, he had
received 12 requests for pardon of persons convicted in relation to
those events and that, in all theses cases, the pardon was granted. He
indicated that it was his clear intention to consider favorably all
requests for pardon in this respect.
We strongly suggested to the President to consider the possibility
of amnesty, especially in respect of Articles 300 and 225-3, also
taking into account that a request for a pardon entails an admission
of guilt. The President indicated that he did not rule out the
possibility of a declaration of amnesty at a later stage. However,
he made clear that any consideration of such a possibility could
only take place when the court proceedings had been finalized or,
at least, were well underway, and taking into account the arguments
presented by both the prosecution and defense in court. In his opinion,
any consideration of declaring an amnesty at an earlier stage would
undermine the status of the legal institutions in Armenia. In addition,
it is our impression that the President would consider it inappropriate
to consider the possibility of amnesty as long as the obstruction of
the court proceedings by the seven opposition leaders continues.
The Speaker of the National Assembly, in our meeting with him,
recognized that there are shortcomings with respect to the Articles
300 and 225, as mentioned by the Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights as well as in our reports to the Assembly, which allow
for a very broad interpretation by the prosecution and give rise
to our concerns that the charges under these provisions seem to be
politically motivated.
Following our visit, in a letter dated 22 January 2009, the Speaker
of the National Assembly informed us that he had signed a decree
setting up a special Working Group within the Assembly that is tasked
with drafting, within a one-month period, in co-operation with the
relevant bodies of the Council of Europe, amendments to Articles 225
and 300 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, in order to address the legal
shortcomings in these articles and to bring them in line with Council
of Europe standards. These amendments will be adopted by the Assembly
and sent to the President for promulgation within approximately one
month after the Working Group has finalized its work. This group is
chaired by Mr. David Harutyunyan, Chairman of the Armenian delegation
to our Assembly.
We consider that this initiative, although belated, is a signal
indicating the readiness of the Armenian authorities to begin to
address the concerns of the Assembly in relation to the situation of
the persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events of
1 and 2 March 2008.
Moreover, 16 more persons were pardoned by presidential decree on 24
January 2009, and others are reportedly under consideration.
We therefore consider that the initiative of the National Assembly
to revise Articles 225 an 300 of the Criminal Code in accordance
with Council of Europe standards, the number of pardons granted (a
total of 28 to date), as well as the positive steps taken towards the
establishment of an independent, transparent and credible inquiry,
should be seen as an indication of the readiness of the Armenian
authorities to address the demands of the Assembly expressed in
Resolutions 1609 (2008) and 1620 (2008). We would therefore recommend
to the Assembly, at this stage, not to suspend the voting rights of
the members of the Armenian parliamentary delegation to the Assembly,
under Rule 9, paragraphs 3 and 4.c, of the Rules of Procedure.
However, we would like to stress that we continue to be dissatisfied
with, and seriously concerned by, the situation of persons deprived
of their liberty in relation to the events of 1 and 2 March 2008, such
as those charged on the basis of police testimony alone. In addition,
we would like to express our expectations that the authorities will
continue considering the use of pardons, dropping of charges and,
especially, amnesty, to resolve the issue of persons deprived of their
liberty in relation to the events on 1 and 2 Mach 2008. Therefore,
we would like to recommend that the Assembly remains seized of this
matter and invites it
Monitoring Committee, at its next meeting, before the April
part-session of the Assembly, to examine the progress achieved by
the Armenian authorities with regard to the implementation of the
Resolution which the Assembly will adopt on the basis of our report
and the previous Resolutions and to propose any further action to
be taken by the Assembly, including the possibility of considering
sanctions, as required by the situation.