DELEGATION FROM RIGHTS WATCHDOG TO VISIT ARMENIA

Reuters
March 5 2008
UK

STRASBOURG, France, March 5 (Reuters) – Britain’s John Prescott will
lead a Council of Europe delegation to Armenia this week to seek ways
to defuse its political crisis, the rights watchdog said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the council said the visit on Thursday and Friday had
been arranged following the declaration of a state of emergency in
Armenia after rioting last weekend in which eight people were killed.

Prescott, former deputy leader of the British Labour Party and former
deputy prime minister to Tony Blair, headed a group from the council’s
Parliamentary Assembly that observed Armenia’s presidential election
last month.

"At the request of the president of the Parliamentary Assembly, John
Prescott will return to Armenia on 6 and 7 March 2008 to assess the
post-electoral situation in the country and explore possibilities
for defusing the current political crisis and promoting dialogue,"
the statement said.

The 47-member Council of Europe seeks to promote democratic principles
throughout the continent, based on the European Convention on Human
Rights and other statutes on the protection of individuals.

Prescott was appointed to it in October as leader of its contingent
of British members of parliament.

Armenia imposed a 20-day state of emergency on Saturday after rioting
broke out during mass protests against the presidential election,
which the opposition says was rigged.

The Council of Europe said Prescott would meet outgoing President
Robert Kocharyan, President-elect Serzh Sarksyan and his main rival,
Levon Ter-Petrosyan. (Reporting by Andrew Dobbie; Editing by Robert
Woodward)