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12.01.2009
President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Applies with a Letter to the Presidents of the Parliaments of the PACE Member States

President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Applies with a Letter to the Presidents of the Parliaments of the PACE Member States

The Department of Public Relations of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia said that at the end of December of 2008 the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Mr Hovik Abrahamyan applied with letter to the presidents of the parliaments of PACE member states. The letter says:

“As you might know, on 17 December the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a draft resolution on Armenia, which will be debated at the winter part-session of the Assembly in January 2009. The draft assesses the implementation by Armenia of previous Assembly resolutions 1609 (2008) and 1620 (2008), related to the tragic events on 1 and 2 March.

The draft duly acknowledges the progress made by Armenia with respect to the establishment of an independent expert group to inquire into the events of 1 and 2 March. It also recognises the ongoing progress with respect to the efforts made by the Armenian authorities to initiate reforms in several other areas, as demanded by the Assembly, in particular in the fields of media. However, the draft draws negative conclusions concerning persons deprived of liberty in connection with the events. Such conclusions together with the political qualification of the detained persons and the proposed sanction of suspending the voting rights of the Armenia’s parliamentary delegation are most concerning on several accounts.

In order to facilitate your understanding of the status of progress with respect to the issues raised in the draft, I attach to this letter an Aide Memoire with anticipation of your favourable consideration of our concerns.

In addition to the key issues raised in the attached paper I wish to draw your attention to the most detrimental nature of the draft, which, if adopted, may become a considerable factor to seriously endanger the internal stability of Armenia. It will also represent a direct interference with a judicial process and profoundly harm the integrity of the state institutions based on the principle of separation of powers.

Not least, the proposed sanction is excessive, disproportionate and inconsistent with the previous practices of the Assembly, including with respect to other delegations from our region. It will represent a measure of double standards and will contradict our collective endeavours to promote co-operation and dialogue within the Council of Europe and the Assembly.

Finally, the draft in its essence contains serious risks of attempting by some to pressure Armenia on certain fundamental issues of regional politics, which will not be tolerated, however will effectively harm our indisputable commitment and efforts to promote peace and stability in the region. It will create additional and serious pressure on the economy of the country by decreasing the trust of foreign investors, which is particularly unfair towards a landlocked country at the time of global economic crisis.

Therefore, I take this opportunity to kindly request support of your country’s PACE delegation during relevant elaborations and voting in January. I would like to assure you that offering such support would in no way diminish Armenia’s willingness and readiness to fully cooperate with the Council. Armenia is committed to human rights provisions incorporated in our country’s Constitutional law and undertaken in form of international obligations. Moreover, it is our deep belief that no further tangible progress is possible on the way of reforms without empowered and advanced judicial system. We, however, disagree, that suspension of the votes of our parliamentary delegation at PACE would improve the democratic situation in the country.

I truly trust your judgement and strongly hope that our considerations and the proposed amendments to the draft text will receive your full support. I remain at your disposal for further clarifications or questions that may arise in this respect.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, as well as Armenia’s parliamentary delegation to PACE stand ready to provide any further information or clarifications your delegation may need in preparing for the named session.”


12.01.2009
PACE Monitoring Committee Co-Rapporteurs in Armenia
On January 15 PACE Monitoring Committee Co-Rapporteurs Mr John Prescott, Mr Georges Colombier and the Committee Secretary Mr Bas Klein will arrive in Yerevan. Within the framework of the co-rapporteurs’ visit meetings are scheduled with the Secretary General’s Special Representative Ms Silvia Zehe, ...



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