EU ENVOY MEETS ARMENIAN LEADERS, OPPOSITION

168 Zham
Aug 26 2008
Armenia

Peter Semneby, the EU special representative for the South Caucasus,
arrived in Yerevan from Tbilisi on a brief informal visit yesterday
[25 August] and met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, National
Security Council secretary Artur Baghdasaryan, Armenia’s first
President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the secretary of the Heritage party
faction in parliament, Stepan Safaryan, and the heads of several
non-governmental organizations.

The EU office in Yerevan said that domestic political issues and
regional issues were discussed at the meetings. Semneby asked the
opposition members to brief him on the pace of the [implementation]
of the Council of Europe resolution 1620, and in particular, how
the government was responding to their calls for freeing political
prisoners.

Sanctioning of rallies was also discussed. They were very concerned
about the recent violence against journalists and the fact that the
perpetrators go unpunished.