ARMENIA’S VOTING RIGHT AT PACE NOT SUSPENDED
Shakeh Avoyan

"Radiolur"
27.01.2009 17:50
Strasbourg

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided today
not to suspend Armenia’s voting right. The resolution passed with
141 votes in favor, 3 against and 5 abstentions.

The implementation by Armenia of Assembly Resolutions 1609 (2008)
and 1620 (2008) was discussed during today’s plenary session of PACE.

Taking into consideration the steps taken by the authorities and the
progress achieved, particularly the increasing number of pardons, 28
to date, welcoming the decision of the National Assembly of Armenia
to establish a Working Group within the National Assembly, within
a one-month period, to draft, in co-operation with the relevant
bodies of the Council of Europe (notably the Venice Commission and
the Commissioner for Human Rights) amendments to Articles 225 and
300 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, in order to address the legal
shortcomings in these articles as noted, inter alia, by the Assembly
and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and
to bring them in line with Council of Europe standards, as well as
the existence of the political will to implement the requirements
of the Resolution as soon as possible, the Parliamentary Assembly
decided not to suspend Armenia’s voting right.

"We have a clear task to fulfill by April. First of all, the working

group that has been formed has assumed a serious responsibility to
submit proposals within a month. Another month is given to turn these
proposals into a law. That means that we should have a serious thing
to say at the next sitting of the Monitoring Committee scheduled
for March 30-31 in Spain," member of the Armenian delegation to PACE
Armen Rustamyan told Radiolur.

Asked whether the Armenian authorities will manage to meet the
deadline, Armen Rustamyan said he is assured the authorities have the
political will to solve the issue as soon as possible. "I can state
with confidence that it’s not favorable for the Armenian authorities
to have a conflict with the Council of Europe," Mr. Rustamyan said.

Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE David Harutyunyan said the
only way of development for Armenia is the European integration and
the three principles adopted by Europe, i.e. defense of human rights,
democratic development and legal state.

"This is first of all necessary to Armenia, and at the moment
we all realize that we have to do everything depending on us in
order to achieve results, the country will start moving much more
intensively. There are no winners and losers. Democracy and proper
protection of human rights will be a victory, while this is just a
process, a simple discussion," the head of the Armenian delegation
stated.