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Vol. 25 – No. 21 – Saturday, June 4, 2005
– Uncontested Armenian Candidates In Beirut Re-Elected.
– Council Of Europe Slams Kocharian’s Constitutional Reform
– Opposition Urges ‘No’ Vote On Armenian Constitution
– Ill-Treatment of Demonstrators And Excessive Use Of Force
– Uncontested Armenian Candidates In Beirut Re-Elected.
BEIRUT – On Sunday May 29, the first round of Lebanese parliamentary
elections took place in the capital Beirut. Nineteen candidates were
elected in the three districts of Beirut. All nineteen are part of the
late Prime Minister Raffik Hariri’s Future Movement Block, which
encompasses the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party as well as the Ramgavar
party. Included in the nineteen are the four Armenian opposition members
of parliament who were reelected without contest after the withdrawal of
the pro-government Tashnak party member candidates.
Given the likelihood of any candidate contesting and winning against
Armenian opposition members of parliament who had a continued
relationship with the late Prime Minister slim to none, analysts were
not surprised of the Tashnag party withdrawal from the first round of
Lebanon’s parliamentary elections. Analysts also were not surprised by
the decrease in turnout of the Armenian constituency, irregardless of
Tashnag party’s call to boycott the election. The reelected Armenian
parliament members are; Dr. Yeghia Djeredjian (Armenian Orthodox and
member of Social Democrat Hunchakian party Central Committee), Mr. Hagop
Kassarjian (Armenian Orthodox and member of the Ramgavar party Central
Committee), Mr. Serge Tursarkisian (Armenian Catholic), Mr. Jean
Oghasabian (Armenian Orthodox).
Arab media outlets also reported illegal activities had been conducted
against Armenians in support of the so called Tashnag boycott. Examples
of which include but are not limited to; confiscation of identity
papers, and harassment of Armenian voters on their way to polling
places. These actions prompted Hunchak youth to contact the authorities,
confront the assailants, and escort Armenians to their respective
polling places. Once the authorities arrived four Armenian youth were
arrested, as a result of such activities.
Commenting on the illegal activities, reelected MP Dr. Yeghia
Djeredjian stated “It is acceptable to protest lawfully, it is also
acceptable to state ones opinion on matters, but we will not tolerate
the use of unlawful activities to get ones point across.”
The Armenian community of Lebanon enjoys six seats in the Lebanese
parliament. Analysts believe elections for the remaining two Armenian
parliament seats, one in Metn and another in Bekkaa Valley currently
held by members of the Tashnag party will be intensely contested.
– Council Of Europe Slams Kocharian’s Constitutional Reform
YEREVAN — The Venice Commission, a key Council of Europe body, which
monitors legislative reform in the human rights organization’s member
states, expressed on Friday its “deep dissatisfaction” with the latest
version of the draft amendments to Armenia’s constitution.
It warned that the Armenian authorities should put more significant
curbs on Kocharian’s sweeping powers if they want to forge closer links
with Europe.
“The members of the Venice Commission’s Working Group on constitutional
reform in Armenia expressed their deep dissatisfaction with this text,
as most of the Commission’s comments have not been taken into
consideration,” the commission said in a statement.
The statement quoted one of the members of the group, Kaarlo Tuori, as
saying: “The draft constitutional amendments need to be drastically
revised before they undergo the second reading.”
The constitutional package was approved by the Armenian parliament,
dominated by Kocharian’s loyalists, in the first reading on May 11. It
is a slightly revised version of the draft amendments that were unveiled
by Kocharian and his three-party governing coalition last November.
In a report last December, Venice Commission experts said “more
significant amendments” are needed for putting in place an effective
system of checks and balances between the government
branches in Armenia.
Their recommendations would in particular give more powers to the
National Assembly, seriously limit the president’s controversial
authority to appoint and sack virtually all judges and make
the mayor of Yerevan an elected official. The Armenian authorities have
so far been
reluctant to embrace such changes.
The Venice Commission warned that if their recommendations are not
“fully” accepted by the authorities “the whole constitutional reform
process would fail to bring Armenia closer to European values and attain
the aim of further European integration.”
Constitutional reform was one of the conditions for Armenia’s hard-won
accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001. In a resolution
adopted last September, the organization’s Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE) gave Yerevan until June to hold the repeatedly delayed
constitutional referendum. Armenian officials reportedly told PACE
leaders in April that the vote will likely take place in late July or
early August.
– Opposition Urges ‘No’ Vote On Armenian Constitution
YEREVAN — Armenia’s two main opposition groups urged their supporters
on Tuesday to vote against draft constitutional amendments which Robert
Kocharian is expected to put to a referendum
later this year.
In a joint statement, the Artarutyun (Justice) alliance and the
National Unity Party said the changes proposed by Kocharian and his
governing coalition envisage only a symbolic reduction of sweeping
powers vested in the Armenian presidency. “The draft amendments adopted
by the National Assembly in the first reading on May 11 reject changes
needed for the country’s democratization and aim to preserve the
country’s autocratic system,” they said.
“Real democratic constitutional reforms have no alternative and will be
carried out after the establishment of a legitimate government,” the
statement added. The statement followed a strong
criticism of Kocharian’s constitutional package that was voiced by the
Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.
The commission said on Friday that most of its key recommendations made
last December have been ignored by the Armenian authorities. Both
Artarutyun and the AMK indicated earlier this year that they will
endorse Kocharian’s constitutional reform if these proposals are
included in the package.
The proposed deal was effectively turned down by the parliament’s
pro-presidential majority, however.
A senior member of Artarutyun, Shavarsh Kocharian, told RFE/RL that the
opposition offer is still on the table. “If all of what we are proposing
is accepted why should be say ‘no’?” he said. “For us constitutional
reform is not a pretext to oust the regime. There are many other reasons
to oust the regime.”
However, other Artarutyun leaders have already pledged to turn the
planned constitutional vote into a “referendum of confidence” in
Kocharian. They admit that the opposition will try to use the
referendum as a rallying cry for another push for regime change.
– Amnesty International Annual Report On Armenia
Ill-Treatment Of Demonstrators And Excessive Use Of Force
NEW YORK — Scores of people were injured and forcibly detained when
special police units reportedly armed with truncheons used water cannons
and stun grenades to break up a peaceful opposition demonstration in the
capital Yerevan in the early hours of 13 April. Four journalists
who were covering the demonstration were reportedly severely beaten by
police officers. Dozens more opposition activists and supporters,
including women, were reportedly beaten and illtreated
during unsanctioned armed police raids on the head offices of the main
opposition parties launched that same night.
According to reports most of the activists present on the opposition
party premises were forcibly detained and kept in police cells for up to
48 hours. According to human rights groups and opposition
parties, beatings and ill-treatment of both those detained at the
opposition demonstration and the party offices continued in detention:
detainees, including women, allegedly complained about police officers
slapping them in the face, as well as kicking, kneeing and punching them
while shouting and swearing at them.
On 26 May Edgar Arakelian, a 24-year-old opposition activist from a
small town outside Yerevan, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for
“attacking a state official performing their duties”
during the 13 April demonstration. He had admitted to hitting a police
officer with a plastic water bottle during the demonstration but claimed
he had acted in self-defense after the police officer had hit him,
breaking his front teeth. He alleged in court that he had been tortured
in pre-trial detention in order to force him to admit that the violence
had been instigated by the political opposition. On 30 June the Appeals
Court upheld his sentence.
Opposition demonstrations in April were part of a two-month campaign of
mass public protests launched by opposition political parties demanding
the resignation of President Robert Kocharian.
The authorities described the opposition campaign as a coup attempt and
opened a criminal investigation into the activities of the opposition
Artarutyun (Justice) alliance.
The opposition rejected charges that they were calling for the violent
overthrow of the constitutional order. During their campaign hundreds of
opposition supporters, including prominent opposition
party members, were reportedly arbitrarily detained throughout the
country and dozens were sentenced to 15 days’ administrative detention
after trials that were said to have fallen far short of international
fair trial standards. Vagharshak Harutiunian, for example, a prominent
member of the opposition (Republic) party and a former Defense Minister,
was held in pre-trial detention for two months on charges of calling for
the “violent overthrow of the constitutional order” and for “publicly
insulting senior government officials”. He was released following
international pressure; however, the charges against him were not dropped.
On 28 April the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
held an emergency debate on the situation in Armenia and issued a
strongly worded resolution, condemning the use of force by police during
the opposition protests as “against the letter and spirit of its values”
and calling on the authorities to investigate any alleged human rights
violations and to release those opposition members still in detention.
PACE warned the government that it could withdraw the credentials of the
Armenian delegation to PACE if no progress was made by the authorities
by September. In an address
to PACE on 23 June President Kocharian defended the use of force by
police against opposition activists during the 13 April demonstration.
He was quoted as saying: “The organizers of the action were
demonstratively calling for civil disobedience. The police had no
alternative.”
Other assaults on activists
At an opposition rally on 5 April police reportedly refused to
intervene when around two dozen men, described as athletically-built
with shaven heads, tried to disrupt the peaceful protest meeting and
physically attacked journalists covering the event, kicking and beating
them and breaking their equipment. In June a Yerevan court ordered two
men to pay a small fine for their participation in
the beating of the journalists. Three men of a similar description
allegedly physically assaulted and critically injured opposition
politician Ashot Manucharian in Yerevan on 22 April. In June police
reportedly announced that they had suspended their investigation into
the assault because they had failed to identify the perpetrators.
Previously human rights activist Mikael Danielyan and opposition deputy
Victor Dallakian had also been physically assaulted by unknown
assailants. In an affidavit Mikael Danielyan described how
he was badly beaten by four unknown men who attacked him in the street
outside his home in Yerevan in the morning of 30 March when he returned
from walking his dog. He was reportedly repeatedly punched in the head
and kicked after he fell to the ground and needed hospital
treatment. He believed that the attack was related to his human rights
work and was meant to intimidate him and prevent him from monitoring the
authorities’ policing of the opposition campaign. President Kocharian
reportedly personally ordered an investigation into the attack on Mikael
Danielyan but during the period under review no one had been charged
with assaulting the human rights activist.
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