US REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN ARMENIA "BIASED" – RULING PARTY MP

Aravot
Feb 28 2009
Armenia

MP Eduard Sharmazanov of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia has
described the criticism of the US State Department 2008 Human Rights
Report: Armenia as "subjective and one-sided". Sharmazanov objected to
a provision in the report, which said that the Armenian government
"did not let citizens to freely exercise their right to change
the government", saying that elections are a way for changing the
government in Armenia and that Serzh Sargsyan was elected president
by the majority of votes in an election that "complied with all
accepted international standards". The following is the text of
Margarit Yesayan’s report by Aravot daily newspaper on 28 February
headlined "’Subjective and one-sided,’ this the way the spokesman
for the Republican Party of Armenia, Eduard Sharmazanov, describes
the US State Department’s annual report"

Under the US State Department’s 2008 Human Rights Report – the
situation in Armenia has essentially aggravated over the past year, the
authorities and their representatives numerously violated human rights.

According to assessments of Americans, corruption remains to be
a serious problem in the judiciary and legal systems, cases of
human rights violations were recorded; the conditions in prisons
are bad; suspects are intimidated; violence against convicts
continues. Representatives of the authorities do not accept these
strict evaluations of the Department of State’s report.

MP Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesman for the [ruling] Republican
Party of Armenia, simply announced that that the State Department’s
evaluations are subjective and wide of the mark. The MP told Aravot:
"Agreeing that there are problems in different spheres in Armenia,
including in the sphere of human rights and others, however, I assess
the State Department’s latest annual report biased and one-sided."

Asked what arguments he has to prove the opposite, Mr Sharmazanov
said: "The report says that ‘the authorities did not let citizens to
freely practise their right to change the government’. I must inform
our American colleagues that they forgot very soon that our people,
the public changes the authorities via elections and as a result of
elections. Our election complied with all accepted international
standards, the then prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan , was elected
president by the majority of popular vote in the election; so in what
way apart from this should our citizens carry out their rights? I
would also like to remind that numerous ballot boxes were opened after
the election upon demands of the opposition representatives in their
presence, and Ter-Petrosyan’s votes did not grow as a result. The
report also says that policemen beat citizens, but there is no mention
of beatings of policemen. It is said that there was a revenge on the
part of the authorities, but according to an unclear logic, the State
Department turns a blind eye to fundamental principle of democracy –
Ter-Petrosyan’s steps to reject pluralism. I would like to remind
that he was rejecting the calls by the authorities for tolerance for
months – continuing to tend to revenge.

We reminded Sharmazanov that the State Department’s report spoke
quite a lot about non-free state of mass media, it says that the
equality was not ensured in the press and TV, the non-governmental
media outlets were silenced during the [1-20 March 2008] state of
emergency, and so on.

Sharmazanov opposed this approach, saying: "I would like to advise
them to once again objectively observe the Armenian press and TV of
that time and see that there is no place for more criticism; what
other way and how much one should criticize what was not done?; which
figures did not receive an opportunity to speak? I would like to say
also that our partners, who prepared the report contradict their own
previous evaluations. In particular, during the meeting with President
Serzh Sargsyan [former] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
that Armenia is on the route of progress in democratic reforms,
probably taking into consideration the circumstance that starting
from the first day of President Serzh Sargsyan’s rule the political
will aimed both at carrying out legislative reforms in the TV and
radio sphere and at solving issues of comprehensive disclosure of
the 1 March and many other issues was apparent.