NA SPEAKER MEETS WITH COE SECREATARY GENERAL

armradio.am
22.05.2008 18:10

On May 22 the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of
Armenia Tigran Torosyan met with the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe Terry Davis.

Turning to the events in Armenia on March 1 and 2, the Armenian
Parliament Speaker noted that these had a shocking influence on all
of us. Many rallies took place in Armenia ever since 1988, but none
of them had an outcome like this. The tragic events could not result
from people’s dissatisfaction with their social conditions, because
it has been steadily improving over the past years. The approach that
the Police applied force against peaceful demonstrators is also too
primitive. Tigran Torosyan stressed the importance of establishment of
the NA ad hoc Commission in compliance with PACE Resolution 1609, which
will give answers to these and other questions. He informed also that
a working group has been created in the National Assembly to improve
the electoral processes, activities are underway for improvement of
RA Law on Television and Radio. It was noted also that the Parliament
passed the draft law on amendments to RA Law on Conducting Meetings,
Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations

CoE Secretary General Terry Davis thanked for the support and
provision of full information to the Deputy Secretary General of the
Council of Europe, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio during her recent visit
to Armenia. Mr. Davis welcomed the establishment of the commission to
investigate the March events and noted that the commission alone cannot
be responsible for revealing the reasons of the events. In particular,
he attached importance to the investigation by law-enforcement bodies,
and punishment of those guilty of the death of every victim. Mr. Davis
welcomed the other steps taken in the direction of fulfilling the
requirements of the PACE Resolution 1609.