PACE CAN SUSPEND VOTING RIGHTS OF ARMENIAN DELEGATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.04.2008 17:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In order to move forward, Armenia should urgently
undertake reforms of the political system and of the electoral process,
guarantee the independence of the judiciary, the public media and
freedom of assembly, and stop the harassment of opposition media
outlets, arbitrary arrests and politically motivated detentions,
the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said today.

According to the resolution adopted, "the only way to allow the country
to move forward with the above-mentioned urgently-needed reforms is
the initiation of an open and constructive dialogue between political
forces", the parliamentarians said.

Following the proposals of the PACE rapporteurs on Armenia (Georges
Colombier, France, EPP/CD, and John Prescott, United Kingdom, SOC),
the parliamentarians listed a number of conditions for such a dialogue
to start, notably the immediate opening of an independent inquiry into
the events of 1 March (which resulted in 10 people killed and 200
injured), the urgent release of the persons detained on seemingly
artificial and politically motivated charges and the revocation
of the amendments recently adopted by the National Assembly to the
Law on conducting meetings, assemblies, rallies and demonstrations,
with immediate effect.

Unless these conditions are met and an open dialogue on the reforms
mentioned is seriously engaged, "the credibility of Armenia as a member
of the Council of Europe is put into doubt", the parliamentarians said.

"The Assembly should therefore consider the possibility of suspending
the voting rights of the Armenian delegation to the Assembly at the
opening of its June 2008 part-session, if no considerable progress has
been made on these requirements by then", the resolution concludes,
PACE communication unit reports.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress