HAMMARBERG’S REPORT WILL BE ADEQUATE

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[05:09 pm] 16 December, 2008

"The "Case of the Seven" trial will come crashing on administration,"
said today representative of the Armenian National Congress Levon
Zurabyan and called on everybody to participate and follow-up on
the trial.

As far as the ANC forum is concerned, for which the Congress has
appealed to the Government session hall and received a denial,
Zurabyan assured that the ANC can always find a small area without
the control of the administration.

Levon Zurabyan considered the government’s rejection as nonsensical
and didn’t go into details.

"We will hold our forum on those days and distribute the DVDs to the
people because we have very important things to say," said Zurabyan.

The ANC is not concerned about the size of the hall.

"The administration is afraid that 2-3,000 people will show up,
who will feel the spirit of the meeting and they will try to create
obstacles."

According to him, today the ANC needs a hall that will seat 20,000
people. "Today, we are the only political party that can fill a hall
with supporters."

Zurabyan also informed today that the ANC is not planning on holding
its congress in Georgia because that is connected to additional
technical and financial issues and after all, the administration may
also close the border.

Since tomorrow the EU Commissioner for Human Rights must present the
situation in Armenia and has publicly stated that his evaluation
is going to be critical, Zurabyan touched upon the efforts of the
members of the Armenian delegation to soften the report.

"To tell you the truth, we still don’t know what Hammarberg has
prepared to say, but taking into account the fact that he is a man of
principle, we are sure that he will present an adequate report. As
to what our delegates may do, unfortunately, all their efforts will
be aimed at keeping the regime."

As far as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is concerned, especially
the Madrid principles, Zurabyan stated that the ANC has already
declared its stance on the principles and after the release of the
principles, everyone will be convinced that the ANC, in particular
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was right.

According to Zurabyan, the administration’s only concern is to have
the Council of Europe continue to close its eye on issues relating
to democracy in Armenia, not use the term "political prisoners"
and apply sanctions against our delegation.

Levon Zurabyan is sure that the efforts of the Armenian delegation will
be in vain. In response to journalists’ questions, Zurabyan recalled
that on May 2, Ter-Petrosyan had declared that he was against freezing
funding for Armenia by the "Millennium Challenges" Corporation,
had appealed to the U.S. government to not apply sanctions to Armenia.

Let us recall that the Board of Directors of the "Millennium
Challenges" Corporation has decided to discuss the issue of conceding
6 million 811 thousand 305 dollars for restoration of rural roads
and improvement of irrigation network in Armenia in March 2009.