IMPLEMENTATION OF PACE RESOLUTION 1609 DISCUSSED AT THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE

armradio.am
18.06.2008 12:42

President Serzh Sargsyan conducted a working meeting on the process
of implementation of the recommendations contained in the PACE
resolution n.

1609 "Activities of the democratic institutions in Armenia,"
President’s Press Office reported.

The President of Armenia said that similar meeting was conducted a
month ago during which the main steps related to the recommendations
contained in the PACE resolutions were decided. Noting that a
considerable amount of work has been done ever since, Serzh Sargsyan
said that the main objective of the today’s meeting was to summarize
the works as well as to decide on future steps. "My approach remains
the same – regardless of the developments which took place in Armenia
after the elections – we had to and have to now to carry on with our
pre-election programs. We believe in these programs and we will fully
realize them," the President of Armenia said and added "we don’t need
short-term solutions, we don’t need formal approaches. The foundations
we lay today are very important and it is also important that the
adopted decisions are aimed into future."

The President proposed to take up paragraphs of the resolution one
by one and afterwards talk about the future steps.

Speaker of National Assembly, Tigran Torosyan spoke about the
activities conducted at the NA towards the expansion of the rights
of the opposition.

He said that a draft of the corresponding law was prepared and sent
to the experts of the Venice Commission for opinion. The draft will
be discussed at the fall session of the National Assembly. According
to Tigran Torosyan, twenty seven points of the resolution pertaining
to the opposition have been mostly addressed, except the two which
contradict the provisions of the Constitution.

Noting that changes in the law on the "National Assembly procedures"
were based on the European well-known and accepted principles, the
President of Armenia said at the same time that the parliamentary
opposition has been offered also one leading post even though the
number of opposition members at the NA is rather small. This should be
viewed as a gesture of good will on behalf of the political coalition.

Chairman of the NA commission on state and legal issues, David
Haroutunian presented activities of the commission aimed at the
improvement of the Electoral Code. In his opinion, works of the group
are successfully moving forward.

Chairperson of NA commission on science, education, culture, youth
and sport issues, Hranush Hakobyan spoke about works directed at the
improvement of TV area. She said that the commission initiated hearings
at the National Assembly which resulted in four draft laws. According
to her, this is one of those exceptional cases when the package was
signed by all parliamentary fractions, including the representative
of the Heritage opposition party and was sent to the Venice Commission
for expert opinion.

It was also noted that recently the TV companies have made some
structural changes in their programming: different opinions are being
aired, and different approaches are displayed, sometimes even rather
extreme ones.

In the President’s opinion, the public TV should be able to satisfy
the needs of all social groups, different parts of society. Thus it
will become a truly open media outlet, which is the only way to oppose
"yellow press". "We should be able to form credible mass media, we
must ensure that a TV company which exists thanks to tax payers’ money
satisfies the needs of those tax payers," Serzh Sargsyan stressed.

With regard to other recommendations contained in the resolution it was
noted that the law on meetings, demonstrations, gatherings, marches
and rallies has already been amended, and by the Presidential decree
the Public Council has been created. The Procurator General informed
that out of 115 individuals in custody, 46 have been released. They
were given conditional sentences, and criminal charges against some
of them were dropped.

Encouraging this kind of approach, the President of Armenia said, "if
guilt or committed crime is a petty one, the individuals, undoubtedly,
should be treated not harshly. However, all those who committed vicious
crimes must be punished and realize the severity of their crimes."

It was also noted that in compliance with the demand to investigate
the events of March 1-2, the ad hoc parliamentary commission has
been created.

It will conduct an independent inquiry into the events and their
causes. In Serzh Sargsyan’s conviction, the commission should involve
in its works international and national experts, representatives of
the public and do its best to come out with credible conclusions and
acceptable recommendations.

"I am sure that the parliamentary commission has all the opportunities
to be just such a body," the President of Armenia stressed.

The participants to the meeting noted that during the two months after
the adoption of the resolution a great amount of work has been done,
concrete measures have been taken, serious legal and institutional
changes have been made to meet the requirements of the resolution
and works in that direction will be continued with determination.