ARMENIA: EU LAWMAKERS VISIT OPPOSITION PRISONERS
Eurasianet
April 8, 2009
On April 7, a delegation of European lawmakers led by Marie Anne Isler
Béguin, head of the European Union-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation
Committee, visited seven high-profile Armenian prisoners who are
accused of organizing deadly riots in March 2008 and are awaiting
trial in a maximum-security prison.
Béguin told reporters that her mission was to see whether calls for
release of the jailed participants were justified, the Panarmenian
news website reported. The trial, colloquially known as "the case of
the seven," nearly cost Armenia its voting right in the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Europe’s key human rights
body. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Béguin reportedly discussed this issue, as well as Armenia’s blemished
human rights record, with Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan, Police
Chief Alik Sargsian, and various non-governmental organizations.