DAVID HARUTYUNIAN DOES NOT KNOW WHY AMNESTY WAS NOT DECLARED

Noyan Tapan

Nov 5, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. During the January session of
the PACE, it is planned to discuss not only Resolutions 1609 and
1620 but also the fulfilment of the other obligations by Armenia,
David Harutyunian, member of the National Assembly "RPA" faction,
chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Issues,
stated at the November 5 press conference.

One of these obligations is improvement of the electoral legislation
which is still continuing. Some members of the working group set up
for this purpose will go to Poland in November in order to familiarize
themselves with the financing principles of elections and pre-election
campaign, as well as the restrictions and the mechanisms for control
of these processes.

Speaking about the process of fulfilling Resolutions 1609 and
1620, D. Harutyunian said that although considerable progress has
been made in this respect, there has been no advance in the issue
related to criminal prosecution. In his words, the matter concerns
the inadmissibility of convicting people based on testimony of
policemen. "This is a political rather than a legal requirement as
there is no problem here in the legal sense," D. Harutyunian said. In
his opinion, the best solution to this issue would be an amnesty,
in particular, for those who are accused of offering resistance to
police. D. Harutyunian found it difficult to answer the question
about why amnesty had not been declared, as by law, it is one of the
president’s powers. At the same time, he expressed an opinion that
amnesty is not the only option, and the president will consider this
issue without fail.

Responding to the question about what punitive measures may be applied
by the PACE if Armenia does not implement the requirements of the
resolutions, D. Harutyunian said: "The important thing here is not
sanctions but Armenia’s desire to follow the fundamental values of
this organization". He expressed a hope that intensive developments
in terms of implementing the PACE requirements will take place in
November in connection with a visit of the CE Commissioner for Human
Rights Thomas Hammarberg to Armenia after November 20.