PACE CO-RAPPORTEURS WELCOME CREATION OF FACT-FINDING GROUP IN ARMENIA
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[10:16 pm] 24 October, 2008
The co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Armenia of the Council of
Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), John Prescott (United Kingdom,
SOC) and Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD), today welcomed the
Presidential Decree establishing an expert fact-finding group to look
into the events in Armenia on 1 and 2 March 2008 and the circumstances
that led to them.
"This is as an important step towards meeting the Assembly’s demands
that an independent, transparent and credible inquiry into these
events be conducted," said the two parliamentarians.
However, they also stressed that the manner in which this group
conducts its work, as well as the access it has to the relevant state
institutions at all levels, will ultimately decide if the inquiry will
be seen as credible in the eyes of the Armenian public. "All parties
should nominate their representatives as quickly as possible. It is
now time to deliver results," they said.
The co-rapporteurs expressed their hope that the establishment of
the expert fact-finding group would soon be followed by similarly
positive steps regarding the fate of the persons deprived of their
liberty in relation to the events of 1 and 2 March, which continues
to be an issue of great concern to the Assembly.
"We would like to be able to report to the Monitoring Committee, when
it meets on 17 December, that there has been tangible and irreversible
progress with regard to the independent and credible inquiry, as well
as the issue of persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the
events on 1 and 2 March," the co-rapporteurs stressed