ASSEMBLY PROPOSED STOPPING ARMENIAN DELEGATION’S POWERS IN NEW DRAFT RESOLUTION ON ARMENIA AT MONITORING COMMITTEE SITTING

NOYAN TAPAN

Dec 18, 2008
YEREVAN

The Assembly is proposed stopping Armenian delegation’s powers in
the 9th point of draft resolution on Armenia at PACE Monitoring
Committee December 17 sitting. The new draft resolution on the
process of fulfillment of Resolutions N 1609 and 1620 on democratic
institutions’ activity in Armenia adopted in the current year authored
by Co-rapporteurs on Armenia George Colombier and John Prescott is
planned to be submitted for Assembly’s discussion and adoption at the
winter session to be convened on January 26-30, 2009 in Strasbourg. It
was decided at the Monitoring Committee sitting that the Co-rapporteurs
will visit Armenia once more before that.

"I think there may be such developments in January that will give a
possibility to reconsider that proposal and to establish that Armenia
has indeed fulfilled almost the most part of proposals of resolutions
N 1609 and 1620," RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in his
interview to journalists.

French Co-chair George Colombier in his exclusive interview to Public
Television Paris correspondent did not exclude, either that the draft
will be amended as a result of Co-rapporteurs’ coming visit. According
to his estimation, the Armenian authorities have already recorded
sufficient progress in the direction of fulfilling resolutions N
1609 and 1620, and it is desirable that the authorities do more to
mitigate the tension and to restore democracy.

According to Public Television’s Haylur information program, the
Monitoring Committee is mainly discontent with the preliminary
investigation on the criminal case filed against seven opposition
figures on the March 1 events with the accusation of making an attempt
of seizing state power and organizing mass disorders. According to the
same source, the Co-rapporteurs expressed an opinion that the above
mentioned case should have been either quashed so far or an amnesty
should have been granted to them. By the way, before the sitting
the Committee members had a possibility to get acquainted with RA
Prosecutor General’s 60-page explanations on the problem in English.