HENCEFORTH HOLDING OF MASS EVENTS CAN BE PROHIBITED ON BASIS OF CONCLUSION INTRODUCED BY POLICE
Noyan Tapan
March 18, 2008
YEREVAN, MARCH 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The National Assembly of the Republic
of Armenia made amendments and addenda to the law on "Holding of
meetings, rallies, marches and demonstrations" in the March 17
special sitting.
According to that, the holding of such events can be prohibited by
the plenipotentiary body, "if, according to reliable data, they are
directed at ruining the constitutional order by force, stirring up
national, racial and religious hatred, agitating violence or war
or can cause disorders and crimes, demolition of state security,
public order, health and morality of society, as well as violation
of other people’s constitutional rights and freedoms." Those data
can be considered as reliable if the police or the National Security
Service has presented an official conclusion in that respect.
It is stipulated in the bill that "in those cases, when mass public
events have turned into mass disorders, which have brought forth human
victims, the plenipotentiary body acn temporarily prohibit the holding
of mass public events until the revelation of the circumstances of
the crime and the people, who have commited it, for the purpose of
preventing new crimes, if all the other prevention means have been
exhausted."
Organizers should inform the head of the local self-government body
about the holding of a public event five days before it.
The names of the authors are not mentioned in the draft law. According
to Tigran Torosian, the Speaker of the National Assembly, 60-70 MPs
from all the NA factions, except the Zharangutiun (Heritage) faction,
are the authors of the law. The law was discussed by two readings
and was adopted with 90 votes for and 6 against.
According to main speaker Rafik Petrosian, the necessity for the
amendments is conditioned by the existence of a number of not distinct
norms in the law adopted in 2004, as well as by the necessity for
"learning a lesson" from the March 1 events, which became a reason for
human victims. In his words, when developing the bill, the provisions
concerning the use of restrictions envisaged by the European Convention
on "Defence of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms", as well as
the procedures used in a number of European Union member countries,
have been taken into consideration.
According to Armen Martirosian, a member of the Zharangutiun faction,
the law, in fact, prohibits the holding of mass meetings and mass
events. It was mentioned in the speeches of the members of the
faction that the adoption of such a law in the created situation in
the republic will bring to a strengthening of the tension, which is
full of heavy consequences. It was also mentioned that the law has
already received a coarse mark by international experts, while the
suggested amendments tend for serious restrictions of human rights.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
