HOVANNISIAN AND HERITAGE MPs WELCOME AGO GROUP
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[07:30 pm] 01 April, 2008
Yerevan-Today the Heritage Party’s parliamentarians Larisa Alaverdian,
Anahit Bakhshian, Zaruhi Postanjian, Armen Martirosian, Vardan
Khachatrian, and Stepan Safarian met at the National Assembly with
the Ago Monitoring Group of the Council of Europe’s Committee of
Ministers. The visiting delegation was led by Sweden’s Ambassador to
the Council of Europe Per Sjogren. The Heritage MPs presented their
approaches onto the current post-election state of affairs in Armenia
and suggested some possible avenues for resolving this tense situation.
The parties also discussed the Constitutional Court’s "state of
emergency" judgment on the presidential elections, the imperative
for an impartial and thorough investigation of the tragic events
of March 1, the need for reforms in the country’s legislative field
which currently curtails the protection of human rights and fundamental
freedoms, and the duty to defend the rights of those who are imprisoned
because of their political views. The Heritage parliamentarians also
underscored those courses of action which must be taken in order
to settle the present legal-political crisis, as manifested in the
party’s recent public statements.
The same day, Raffi K. Hovannisian, leader of Heritage’s parliamentary
group and member of Armenia’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE), also held an official meeting
with the Ago Group. The interlocutors emphasized the necessity for
Armenia to carry out its commitments to the Council of Europe and,
more specifically, to eliminate the legal and political arbitrariness
applied against its own citizens on the way to delivering the nation
to a truly democratic future.
Raffi Hovannisian also received Bulgarian Ambassador Todor Marinov
Staykov at the National Assembly and, later in the day, conducted a
separate meeting with the United Kingdom’s Ambassador Charles Lonsdale.