LAW ON RALLIES AND MARCHES UNDER CONSIDERATION

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16 April, 2008

On April 16 NA Speaker Tigran Torossian and the expert of the CoE
Venice Commission Simona Granata-Menghini and the OSCE/ODIHR experts
Denis Petit and Neil Jarman continued the discussion of the conclusion
and recommendations regarding the amendments to the Armenian law
on assemblies, rallies, marches and demonstrations passed on March
17, 2008.

The experts of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR recommended
revising the law on marches and assemblies to solve three main
problems: first, the procedure for the verification of reliability of
information used in risk assessment and public order decision-making,
which appears to foreclose or limit the opportunity for such decisions
to be reviewed by an independent tribunal or court; second, the absence
of any express geographical limitation or timeframe "sunset" clause;
third, the elimination of the provision that allowed smaller events
to develop spontaneously into "mass" assemblies.

As a result of a two days’ discussion a full agreement was reached on
all the three issues raised in the recommendation of the experts. A
memorandum was drafted on amendments to the law on assemblies, rallies,
marches and demonstrations which is posted on the web site of the
National Assembly, the news release of the National Assembly reports.

On the basis of agreement with the OSCE/ODIHR experts a bill of
amendments to the law will be drafted which will be extended to the
experts by April 25. After the conclusion of the experts the bill will
be discussed and voted. The bill will be circulated and posted on the
web site of the National Assembly, will be accessible to the civil
society, the National Assembly will be open for proposals. At the same
time, NA Speaker Tigran Torossian noted that it is foreseen to set up
a working group which will study the recommendations and observations
of the observation missions and different organizations regarding the
improvement of the Election Code, as well as legislation. The bills
drafted as a result of discussions will be proposed to the National
Assembly, runs the release of the department of public relations of
the parliament.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress