LEADER OF OPPOSITIONAL ‘REPUBLIC’ PARTY ARAM SARGSYAN: IF PACE FAILS TO DEPRIVE ARMENIAN DELEGATION OF VOTING RIGHT, IT WILL SHOW ITS INCONSISTENCY

ArmInfo
2009-01-26 16:23:00

ArmInfo. If the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) fails to deprive the Armenian delegation of the voting right,
it will thereby show its inconsistency, Leader of the oppositional
"Republic" Party Aram Z.Sargsyan told ArmInfo correspondent, Monday.

According to him, if one considers the situation from the viewpoint
of Armenia’s implementation of PACE basic principles on protection of
citizens’ basic rights and liberties, no progress is being observed
in Armenia in this respect, and the provisions of earlier adopted PACE
Resolutions 1609 and 1620 are not being implemented. On the contrary,
after Dec 17, 2008 decision of PACE Monitoring Committee to deprive the
Armenian delegation of the voting right violence was committed against
the political prisoners at penitentiaries. "I come out for sanctions,
there is yet no progress in human rights defense and implementation
of PACE Resolutions 1609 and 1620",- Aram Z.Sargsyan said.

At the same time, he said that the upcoming session of PACE either
won’t punish the Armenian delegation at all, or the punishment will
be very mild.

Aram Z.Sargsyan connects the session decision with the Jan 28 meeting
of Armenian and Azeri Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev
in Davos and Armenia’s willingness to gain the Karabakh conflict
settlement. Over 10 years in office Robert Kocharyan used up all
the time limit and Serzh Sargsyan has simply no time; to maintain
the power and evade PACE sanctions, he will be compliant enough",-
the oppositionist said.