EU CONCERNED ABOUT ARMENIAN CRACKDOWN
Radio Liberty
March 13 2008
Czech Rep.
The European Union reiterated late Wednesday its calls for the Armenian
authorities to lift the state of emergency in Yerevan, release all
political prisoners and agree to an "independent investigation"
into the country’s deadly post-election unrest.
The government of Slovenia, holder of the EU’s rotating presidency,
also said on behalf of the block that it is "particularly concerned"
about continuing arrests of supporters of opposition leader Levon
Ter-Petrosian. "The Presidency calls again upon the Armenian
authorities to release citizens detained in connection with their
political activities and to refrain from further arrests of opposition
leaders," it said in a statement.
"The Presidency reiterates its recommendation to conduct an independent
investigation of the events of 1 March and what led to them,"
the statement said. In a further indication of EU distrust in the
authorities’ ongoing investigation into those events, it welcomed a
March 2 report by Armenia’s human rights Ombudsman Armen Harutiunian
that questioned the use of force against thousands of Ter-Petrosian
supporters demanding a re-run of last month’s disputed presidential
election.
The statement also renewed the EU’s calls for the Armenian government
and the Ter-Petrosian-led opposition to embark on "political dialogue
based on mutual understanding and trust."
Ter-Petrosian has repeatedly said that he is ready to start such
dialogue so long as the authorities accept EU recommendations contained
in a similar statement issued by the Slovenian presidency last
week. The government’s position those recommendations remains unclear.