ACCORDING TO STEPAN SAFARIAN, AMENDED LAW ON HOLDING OF MASS EVENTS IS ANTI-POPULAR AND WILL RESULT IN MANY NEW ARRESTS

Noyan Tapan
March 19, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, NOYAN TAPAN. When making amendments and addenda to
the law On Holding Meetings, Rallies, Processions, and Demonstrations
the parliament committed a number of procedure violations. Stepan
Safarian, the Secretary of the Zharangutiun (Heritage) party, a memer
of the RA National Assembly faction of the same name, stated at the
March 19 press conference.

In particular, according to him, the faction members have failed in
finding out the names of the authors of the above mentioned amendments
so far.

Besides, NA Speaker Tigran Torosian’s indications were not included
in the draft, and no co-reporters spoke during the discussion.

Reminding T. Torosian’s words that the draft authors are nearly 70
deputies, who spoke for convening a NA special sitting, S. Safarian
under the circumstance considered nonsense the fact that all 70
deputies asked questions to the reporter during the discussion. And
Zharangutiun’s proposals, as the faction member mentioned, have been
rejected, as they were against the amendments.

As S. Safarian evaluated, the amended law is anti-popular and
contradicts the international norms of human rights. As the deputy
is convinced, the amended law will not only fail to liquidate the
home political tension, but also "will result in many new arrests." "A
possibility of freedom of expression should be created, the information
obstacle should be removed.

Driving the people to the corner will never do good," S. Safarian
stated.