Armenian Lawmakers Waiting for Opinion Letter from European Experts

YEREVAN, May 8. /ARKA/. European experts will voice their opinion about
the amendments to Armenia’s law on meetings and processions before May
25.

If the opinion letter comes on May 19, the Parliament may pass the bill
in the first reading at its next four-day session, Speaker of the RA
Parliament Tigran Torosyan said.

On April 16, the Armenian side and experts of the Venice Commission and
of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR)
reached an agreement on amendments to the law.

At his meeting with EU Special Envoy for South Caucasus Peter Semneby
Speaker Torosyan stated that the bill law was based on the memorandum
signed with European experts.

The Speaker said that after March events, the RA President set up a
group to consider the problems pointed out by international
organizations and find solutions.

The group will cooperate with international experts.

Torosyan also said that another group was set up at the RA Parliament
to study international organizations’ proposals for improving election
processes. The group is to submit proposals for improving Armenia’s
election law to the RA Parliament.

He expressed hope that all proposals will be summarized by mid-June and
ready for a joint discussion with international experts.

On March 18, the then Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed
amendments to the law on meetings and processions to prevent the
recurrence of the March 1 events.

The amendments impose restrictions on public events if they pose a
threat to law and order in the country.-0–