ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO LAW ON RALLIES, DEMONSTRATIONS AND PROCESSIONS
arminfo
2008-03-17 20:42:00
ArmInfo. Today the Armenian Parliament began to discuss the first
reading of draft amendments to the law on rallies, demonstrations
and processions.
One of the authors of the amendments, MP Rafik Petrossyan says
that the Mar 1 events in Yerevan have become a bitter lesson for
everybody. 8 people were killed and lots of people wounded on that
day, the state sustained big damage, the political situation in the
country was destabilized. The events have shown that the existing
law needs revision. It is necessary to revise some points of the law
so as to exclude the possibility of anti-constitutional actions and
to guarantee the safety of people in the future. The amendments are
based on the principles of human rights and freedoms, particularly,
the authors refer to articles 11 and 16 of European Convention n
Human Rights and considered the experience of such countries as Italy,
Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Finland, Romania, Moldova.
Particularly, the authors are planning to amend articles 9, 10,
12 and 14 of the law. Thus, according to the amendment to Article
9 the authorities can restrict organization and holding of rallies,
demonstrations and processions if in case of reliable information these
activities may threaten the state security, cause violation of public
order, and violation of the constitutional rights of citizens. It
is extremely important that the body restricting the organization of
the activities should possess absolutely reliable information. This
information must be told to the Police and the National Security
Service. At the same time, the organizers of the activities may
dispute the decision on legal waivers. If the presented information is
ungrounded, the leaders of the Police and National Security Service
will be responsible for this. Article 10 of the law is also to be
amended: the organizers of the social events are obliged to inform
the local authorities 3-5 days prior to holding the events. Similar
amendments are also introduced to other articles of the law in force.