THOSE WHO COMMITTED A CRIME MUST BE PUNISHED
Gevorg Harutyunyan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on April 22, 2008
Armenia
Member of the Republican Parliamentary Faction comments upon resolution
1609 "The Function of the Democratic Institutions in Armenia" passed
by PACE Monitoring Committee.
"Firstly I must underscore that instead of demanding to make changes in
the existing law it is very important, to evaluate, to what extent we
meet the requirements of the law. It was by the appeal, recommendation,
or even demand of the same international experts that we banned armed
rallies and mass gatherings. At present they are dissatisfied that
we met the demand of the law.
The second point of the resolution passed by PACE says for ten days
the pro-oppositional powers were holding rallies, without giving an
official notice; in a manner envisaged by the law. And, by the way,
the authorities tolerated all this. We fulfill our international
commitments to protect the people’s democratic rights. But on the
other hand the state is obliged to meet all the other requirements
of the Constitution and the law."
"Immediately after the elections the same co-reporters, as well
as the observation missions underscored that the elections were of
unprecedentely competitive nature and that there were no restrictions
and obstacles during the pre-election campaign. At the moment they
hint that there were unequal conditions for the candidates during
the pre-election campaign."
"Before the tragic events of March 1, the Council of Europe and all
the other international structures published exclusively positive
ideas and conclusions. After March 1, the representatives of the
same structures, in their evaluations, were based on the baseless
announcements made by the pro-oppositional powers, in fact, the
organizers of the mass disorder.
I have personally participated in the session of the Constitutional
Court disputing the election returns. Neither did Ter-Petrosyan’s
nor Tigran Karapetyan’s representatives point out any facts
substantiating the authenticity of the breaches. It is evident that
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters also committed lots of wrongdoings
during the elections. And eventually the plaintiff didn’t even deem
it necessary to listen to the decision of the Constitutional Court.
And even though point 9 of PACE resolution directly records that all
the pro-oppositional parties must recognize the election returns,
some part of the pro-oppositional powers, without any substantiation,
declared themselves winners and they continue to complain and send
commissioners to the Europe and the USA."
"Mr. Petrosyan PACE demands a trustworthy and independent examination
of March 1 events, drawing assumptions that the law enforcement
agencies used disproportionate force."
"The tragic events of March 1 had a very bad consequences and of
course the state is responsible for it. But it is also indispensable
to find the guilty and to eliminate the serious consequences. In this
context PACE makes certain demands some of which we must admit in an
unreserved manner. All the assumptions of the international structures
can be checked through trustworthy and independent examination,
but they don’t set the affair going.
Our General Prosecutor’s continues the inquiry. If it turns out that
the police went beyond their competencies, and used disproportionate
force all the officials will be punished, in a manner envisaged by
the law. We haven’t yet found similar facts. And the international
structures as well haven’t submitted any concrete facts, substantiating
the before mentioned wrongdoings. Instead they make unfounded and
general announcements."
"According to the resolution the arrests are evidently conditioned
by political motives and artificial accusations. Is it a political
speculation or a real desire to clarify who is guilty, in reality?"
"It’s worth mentioning that there are no categorical or affirmative
conclusions in the resolution. They would be wrong, in case they were
there, because everything is clarified due to investigations. Many
detainees are already released, after clarifying that they have certain
political stances, but they didn’t commit any crime. Some have already
been convicted of election breaches and other criminal crimes, but have
been released on probation. Those who committed more serious crimes,
due to which many people have been seriously damaged and even, died,
will be sentenced to imprisonment, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
There are various videos and facts, on how Nikol Pashinyan appeals for
armed violence, building barricades, to disobey the law enforcers,
dissolve the state system, etc, or Levon Ter-Petrosyan appealing to
the students to go on a strike, to throw down the constitutional order
or to usurp power, all the before mentioned actions are prohibited
by the law and the wrongdoers must be punished.
The Europeans themselves emphasize that a person can’t be imprisoned
for his/her political convictions. But those who committed crimes
must be punished otherwise it will lead to chaos in the country.
In my view the Council of Europe is not concerned about establishing
law and order in our country or the security of our country and
the people, they simply do paperwork and manifest paper-based
mentality. They simply demand to provide artificial freedom."