EU CALLS FOR ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER TO BE FREED

Agence France Presse — English
March 3, 2008 Monday 7:56 PM GMT

The European Union on Monday called on Armenia to lift a state
of emergency and free an opposition leader from house arrest and
demonstrators detained by police after deadly weekend riots.

"I urge the Armenian government to lift the state of emergency declared
on March 1," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner
said in a statement.

"I also call on the Armenian authorities to lift any restrictions on
free movement for former presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian
and to release any citizens detained for exercising their right to
peaceful assembly," she said.

Seven civilians and one police officer were killed in Saturday’s street
battles between riot police and opposition supporters protesting the
result of a presidential election. Dozens were injured, many from
gunshot wounds.

On Monday Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, the official winner of
the February 19 election, vowed to bring those responsible for the
clashes to justice.

Protesters claim the election was rigged to ensure victory for Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian, a close ally of outgoing President Robert
Kocharian.

But observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) have said that the election "mostly" met international
standards.

Official results gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian and 21.5
percent to Ter-Petrosian.