PACE PANEL DEFERS DECISION ON ARMENIA
By Karine Kalantarian

report/en/2009/03/53EF3F49-76DB-4CD7-A396-651ABEC2 6998.ASP
Tuesday 31, March 2009

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–A key panel of the Council of Europe Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE) reportedly deferred making further recommendations
regarding the Armenian authorities’ treatment of the opposition after
a meeting held in Valencia, Spain late on Monday.

The Monitoring Committee discussed, among other issues, the
authorities’ compliance with the most recent PACE resolution on
Armenia. The resolution, adopted in late January, deplored the
continuing imprisonment of dozens of Armenian opposition members and
supporters arrested following the February 2008 presidential election.

But the Strasbourg-based assembly backed down on its threats to suspend
the voting rights of its Armenian members, citing Yerevan’s pledge
to amend Criminal Code articles used against the most prominent of
the arrested oppositionists.

According to David Harutiunian, head of the Armenian delegation at
the PACE who attended the Valencia meeting, the Monitoring Committee
welcomed the relevant amendments passed by the Armenian parliament on
March 18. "They at the same time stressed the importance of enforcing
the law," he told RFE/RL from the Spanish city.

Harutiunian said that enforcement will be "at the center of the
Monitoring Committee’s attention" in the weeks leading up to the PACE’s
next session due in late April. "I think the enforcement of the law
should happen before the April session and depending on the results
of the enforcement, the Monitoring Committee will again address the
issue," he said.

The PACE resolution said that the Criminal Code amendments should
result in the release of many detained oppositionists. Armenian
officials have been far more vague on this score, however.