Peter Semneby: EU gives high priority to release of people arrested for
their political activities

2008-05-07 22:06:00

ArmInfo. The European Union is attentively following the post-electoral
processes in Armenia, EU Special representative for the South Caucasus
Peter Semneby said during a meeting with Speaker of the Armenian
Parliament Tigran Torossyan.

The press service of the Armenian Parliament quotes Semneby as saying
that the EU gives high priority to the release of the people arrested
for their political activities and the lifting of restrictions on
public actions. It is necessary to create basis for establishing a
political dialogue and conducting an independent investigation of the
Mar 1 events, particularly, by setting up an interim parliamentary
commission and involving the ombudsman in this work.

The Armenian Parliament can play a special role in establishing
political dialogue even though some of the political forces that should
take part in this dialogue are not in the parliament. Semneby said that
before meeting with Torossyan he had met with Levon Ter-Petrossyan and
noticed some changes in his position. He said that Ter-Petrossyan was
ready to join in the political processes.

At Semneby’s request, Torossyan presented his approaches and noted that
the change in Levon Ter- Petrosyan’s position was noticeable at the
Congress as well. This is natural as some time has passed, he added. At
the same time, Torossyan pointed out that the opposition continues
blaming everybody, including the Armenian authorities and European
structures, as well as distorting evident facts. He noted that
Armenia’s legislation lacks items stipulating arrests for political
activity and the law-enforcers are aware of this. If it is found out in
the course of investigation that people were arrested for their
political views, the law-enforcers will be punished. Speaking of the
possibility of a dialogue, Torossyan said that the dialogue should
cover specific issues and can’t be held with preconditions. As for
independent investigation, the speaker noted that possible formation of
a temporary parliamentary commission on investigation of the March 1
events is still being discussed by parliamentary factions. Torossyan
agreed that not all political forces are presented in parliament, but
he recalled that a temporary commission had been set up in parliament
with participation of other political forces and public organizations
to reform the Constitution.