OSCE welcomes contacts between Armenian authorities, opposition

Mediamax news agency
13 May 04

Yerevan, 13 May: Vladimir Pryakhin, the head of the OSCE office
in Yerevan and ambassador, has welcomed the resumption of contacts
between the authorities and the opposition in Armenia.

“I call on both sides to engage in a genuine dialogue to settle
the existing differences within the constitutional framework,”
Pryakhin said. He said that “a dialogue is the best way to reach
mutual understanding and develop political stability”, Mediamax news
agency reports.

Pryakhin also called on the Armenian authorities to re-consider
the cases of people detained during the recent demonstrations and to
continue efforts to reform the Code of Administrative Violations. This
would make it possible to eliminate the practice of administrative
detentions, “which is incompatible with European standards”, he said.