HOVANESSIAN REITERATES SUPPORTS FOR AMNESTY
sian-reiterates-supports-for-amnesty/
Jun 10, 2009
YEREVAN-The head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s
Parliamentary Bloc Vahan Hovanessian Wednesday reiterated the party’s
strong support for granting amnesty to opposition forces who were
jailed following last year’s post-election unrest.
He told the ArmInfo news agency that ARF Supreme Council of Armenia
chairman Armen Rustamian has, on several occasions, emphasized the
imperative for amnesty. Hovanessian, who is also a member of the
ARF’s governing Bureau, also said that he personally has discussed the
matter with President Serzh Sarkisian and presented the ARF’s position.
"The current process regarding amnesty should have begun months ago,"
said Hovanessian, adding that the president should discuss the issue
with all political forces-coalition and opposition-before making
a decision.
Hovanessian also discussed recent statement by leaders of the Levon
Ter-Petrosian-led opposition Armenian National Congress calling for
ARF to join forces with its efforts.
"We are a national party, and we have expressed our disagreements
with the authorities over national issues," he said.
"We need to ascertain the Heritage party’s and the Armenian National
Congress’ positions on national issues before we can think about
political cooperation," added Hovanessian. "The Armenian National
Congress’ position is not to our liking, and it is a bit unclear to
us on what issues we are being offered to hold consultations."
The ARF leader clarified that his party did not believe that
cooperation with non-parliamentary forces would be beneficial
explaining that after leaving the coalition it had discussed possible
coordination of positions with the Heritage party, which is represented
in Parliament.
President Serzh Sarkisian said on May 28 that he will declare an
amnesty for dozens of imprisoned opposition members only if Armenia’s
leading political groups prove that there is strong public support
for such a move. But No amnesty has yet been granted.
Calls to release the jailed oppositionists first came last July,
when lawmakers from the ARF warned the Sarkisian administration that
a failure to grant a swift amnesty would deal a devastating blow
to Armenians international image and hurt chances for defusing the
lingering political tensions in the country.
The ARF, which left Sarkisian’s coalition government in April over his
conciliatory policy toward Turkey, had repeatedly urged Sarkisian to
issue the general amnesty to prevent a possible political and social
crisis from erupting in Armenia.
Under the Armenian constitution, an amnesty can be initiated only by
the president of the republic and needs to be approved by the National
Assembly. The latter is dominated by Sarkisian’s allies.