VENICE COMMISSION TO PRESENT ITS CONCLUSION ON BILL OF MAKING AMENDMENTS TO RA LAW ON HOLDING MEETINGS, RALLIES, PROCESSIONS, AND DEMONSTRATIONS UNTIL MAY 15

Noyan Tapan
April 28, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, NOYAN TAPAN. Until May 15 the Council of Europe
Venice Commission will submit to RA NA its conclusion on the bill of
making amendments to the law On Holding Meetings, Rallies, Processions,
and Demonstrations. According to NA Speaker Tigran Torosian, the bill
revised as a result of the joint discussions held on April 15-16 in
Yerevan was sent to the Commission on April 25. And in connection
with the "speculations" over the format of those discussions he
explained that the discussions proceeded by a narrow format, without
participation of political forces, due to the lack of time.

Touching upon the April 17 resolution of PACE on activity of democratic
institutions in Armenia, T. Torosian said that some stipulations
of that document "do not reflect the situation completely." In
particular, the resolution proposes change of the principle of
formation of the National Committee of Television and Radio, which,
however, is impossible, as it is a constitutional norm. Nevertheless,
according to T. Torosian, the resolution contains proposals aimed
at deepening of democracy in Armenia and as Armenia has joined the
Council of Europe of its own free will, it should filfil the resolution
by finding right solutions.

According to T. Torosian, by the RA Ombudsperson’s special report on
the events of March 1-2, the proposal to reserve the right to hold
an independent investigation of those events to the Ombudsperson’s
office was considered invalid, as with the above mentioned report
A. Haroutiunian presented his position exactly. Meanwhile the
NA Speaker did not exclude the possibility of creating an ad hoc
parliamentary commission mentioning, however, that no discussion
on creation of such a commission has been held with parliamentary
factions yet.