On June 16 Mr John Prescott and Mr Georges Colombier, Co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) were in the National Assembly.

During the meeting with the Speaker of the National Assembly Mr Tigran Torosyan, which attended the Special Representative of CE General Secretary Mrs. Bojana Urumova, the co-rapporteurs noted that their visit before PACE next session has an aim of inquiry of the procedure of the fulfillment of Resolution 1609. Mr Colombier underlined that the Assembly is concerned with the conduct of independent, transparent and reliable investigation of the March 1-2 events, Mr Prescott in this aspect proposed to involve the independent judges in the work of the committee. In his assessment, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia can have his serious role in the work of the committee, though his submitted thorough report was assessed as exceeding his powers.

The Speaker of the National Assembly Mr Tigran Torosyan informed the co-rapporteurs about the work done in the National Assembly after the adoption of PACE Resolution 1609. It was noted that with close cooperation with the CE Venice Commission the draft law on Conducting Meetings, Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations was adopted, which had already been submitted for ratification to the President of the Republic of Armenia and in 1-2 days the he would ratify it. Though time is little there are draft laws on the change of the procedure of the formation of the National Commission on Radio and Television and improvement of the electoral processes in the National Assembly. The  rights of the opposition in the parliament have been reviewed with the amendments of the RA Law NA Rules of Procedure in the aspect of expansion. The NA Speaker reminded that before the adoption of the Resolution 1601 the 22 clauses from the mentioned 27 were set out by Constitution and NA Rules of Procedure, the two from five of them contradict the RA Constitution, and three of them were envisaged by the draft law. All packages were sent to the experts of CE Venice Commission. In the NA extraordinary session an agreement has already been given for the creation of the Ad-hoc Inquiry Committee into the Events Occurred on 1-2 March 2008 in Yerevan and Their Reasons. Within the framework of the functioning laws and Constitution it would give an answer to all expecting questions. Mr Torosyan noted that active and interested discussions on the creation of the committee have been in parliament. Touching upon the participation of the RA Human Rights Defender, the NA Speaker noted that no obstacle could hamper to his participation in the committee’s work. Mr Torosyan expressed hope that committee’s submitted conclusion would give an answer to all questions in reality, and first of all, it was important in the solution of the existing issues inside the country. Mr Torosyan agreed with Mr Prescott’s proposal, noting that the local and international experts can take part in the committee’s activity, and everything should be done to put full stop to this question.

At the co-rapporteurs’ request the NA Speaker also touched upon the issue of the arrested. It was noted that there were no political prisoners in Armenia: the relevant bodies charged and should bring serious arguments about the committed crimes. In particular, regarding the arrested deputies it was noted that to create an opportunity for full investigation of the case the parliament agreed to arrest them. The NA Speaker has already applied to the RA Prosecutor General to find out what has been done regarding the investigation of their cases and in case of getting information he would inform the co-rapporteurs too.

At the request of the PACE co-rapporteur Mr George Colombier, the NA Speaker touched upon the denial of the opposition’s assembly on June 20 by the municipality, noting that the issue got highlighted: in response to the notification the municipality proposed to hold the assembly in another place. If the organizers do not agree, they can apply to the court: it proceeds from the law.

During the meeting other issues were also discussed.

Mr John Prescott and Mr Georges Colombier, co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) met in the National Assembly with the head of the NA delegation Mr Davit Harutyunyan. The Special Representative of CE General Secretary Mrs. Bojana Urumova attended the meeting.

The co-rapporteurs noted that the aim of the two-day visit was to observe the procedure of the fulfillment of the PACE Resolution 1609 by Armenia, as before the PACE session they should present the whole picture of the development of the events of 1-2 March in Armenia and a brief report on the procedure of the fulfillment of the Resolution 1609. Mr Colombier noted that nobody should be persecuted and arrested for his/her views of expressing his/her position, and if there were such people, they should be released. He expressed concern about the mayor’s decision on refusing the assembly to be held on June 20 by the opposition.

Mr Davit Harutyunyan highlighted the co-rapporteurs’ visit to Armenia, and it was noted that an attempt was made for the preparation of the visit. Great work was done in the improvement of the legislation. During the last three days there was considerable progress in the issue of the detained, great number of people were released.

Mr Prescott touched upon the activity of the Ad-hoc Inquiry Committee on the Events Occurred on 1-2 March events, emphasizing the importance of its unbiased attitude and independence. To his conviction, if the inquiry is recognized independent, the split of the society will deepen more. The co-rapporteurs proposed to provide more attention to the Human Rights Defender, noting that the inquiry presented by him would be observed with more trust by the society.

Mr Harutyunyan noted that important steps have been taken in the issue of the committee’s independence: two representatives from the NA factions, one representative from extra-parliamentary forces and one representative from Mr Levon Ter-Petrosyan was proposed to include in the committee. Mr Harutyunayan did not consider so important the right of voting, as the circumstance that the extra-parliamentary forces were given opportunity to present a special opinion, which was going to be stipulated to the report. In Mr Harutyunyan’s opinion the best solution was found at this stage. In his opinion important steps have been undertaken also in increasing the role of the opposition. The National Assembly passed in the first reading the amendments to the law NA Rules of Procedure, which reserved the right of the opposition to discuss any issue considered extraordinary at the NA session. It is fixed in the law that the right to propose a candidate in the posts of the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons is divided among the factions on the day of convening the first session of the National Assembly, according to the defined resolution in the law.

During the meeting the sides touched upon the extraordinary report of the Human Rights Defender, other issues of bilateral interest were discussed too.

On the same day Mr John Prescott and Mr George Colombier met the members of the Heritage faction Mr Stepan Safaryan, Mrs Larisa Alaverdyan, Mrs Anahit Bakhshyan, Mr Armen Martirosyan, Mrs Zaruhi Postanjyan and Mr Vardan Khachatryan.

The Special Representative of CE General Secretary Mrs. Bojana Urumova attended the meeting.

Mr John Prescott informed that members of the faction that the aim of the visit was to get information about the procedure of the PACE Resolution 1609 and they expected to hear the opinion of the faction. It was noted that they especially highlighted the issues of the release of the political prisoners and the conduct of the independent inquiry of the well-known tragic events.

First, the faction secretary Mr Stepan Safaryan noted that Armenia began the fulfillment of the demands of the resolution late, which according to him, was a means of winning time. According to Mr Safaryan, the certain steps already made are not sufficient to say that the demands of the resolution are being fulfilled. He noted that the Heritage faction has been concerned with the fulfillment of the demands, as they stem from the interests of Armenia, and that is why proposals were made to the power, which had not been accepted. In the package of recommendations there were the following clauses: consider invalid the amendments made on March 17 to the RA law on Conducting Meetings, Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations, discuss according to him the issue of the release of the political prisoners, amend some laws, develop the law on Opposition and other issues.

Touching upon the parliamentary hearings held in the National Assembly recently regarding the report of Mr Armen Harutyunyan, Human Rights Defender, Mr Safaryan qualified it not complete, as in their opinion, important official persons were not invited, and the faction had no opportunity to present fully his views. In the opinion of the faction members, the aim of the organized hearings were the same – accuse the obudsman.

The faction members touched upon the works done and presented their views on the 1-2 March events.

Mrs Alaverdyan noticed that some amendments made to the RA on Conducting Meetings, Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations can be considered positive, the provision of claiming the denial on Conducting an Assembly was considered, as, according to the MP, there is a lack trust towards the courts in Armenia, and they implement the order of the authorities.

Mrs Zaruhi Postanjyan touched upon the tragic events occurred on 1-2 March and noted that by now regarding the death of 10 people criminal cases were not sued, moreover, the relatives of the victims were invited to the Prosecutor’s Office and blackmailed them in order to refuse presenting the complaint. According to him, the committee being set up in the National Assembly is not trustworthy and does not have levers in order to disclose those guilty.

Mr Armen Martirosyan talked about the envisaging amendments to the RA Electoral Code, noting that numerous proposals of the faction were not included in the draft of the proposals, and criminal cases were not sued regarding certain violations committed in the electoral process.

Mrs Anahit Bakhshyan touched upon the activity of the mass media, in particular the television, and noted that today they have not provided pluralism and they don’t think that the programmed amendments will have a positive influence.

Mr Vardan Khachatryan expressed opinion that the denial of the applications on conducting assemblies by the opposition increases the tension of the public and creates preconditions for confrontation.

On June 16 the meetings of the co-rapporteurs of the CE Monitoring Committee are envisaged with the political coalition member factions in the National Assembly and the members of the RA NA working group of the reforms of the Electoral Code.