PACE CO-RAPPORTEURS TO RAISE ISSUE OF PASHINYAN’S SENTENCE IN UPCOMING YEREVAN VISIT

Tert.am
12:58 ~U 03.02.10

According to a press release issued on the official Council of Europe
website yesterday, PACE co-rapporteurs John Prescott and Georges
Colombier intend to raise a number of timely issues with the Armenian
government during their visit to Yerevan this spring.

The press release reads as follows:

"The Armenian authorities need to implement the reforms recommended
by the ad hoc Committee of the National Assembly of Armenia on the
events of 1 and 2 March 2008, without further delay," concluded the
co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE), John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) and Georges Colombier
(France, EPP/CD), following an exchange of views in the PACE Monitoring
Committee last week.

"The reforms recommended by the ad hoc Committee, in combination with
those contained in the relevant PACE resolutions, if implemented in
good faith, could comprehensively address the circumstances that led
to the events of 1 and 2 March 2008," the co-rapporteurs said.

They stressed that these recommendations therefore needed to be
implemented without further delay, especially those related to the
reform of the police – including the establishment of an independent
oversight and complaints body – and the long overdue reform of the
electoral code.

The co-rapporteurs announced that they would send a letter to the
Armenian Parliament asking it to provide the Monitoring Committee,
before its meeting on March 17, 2010, in Paris, with a clear timetable
for these reforms.

"On the basis of the discussions in the Monitoring Committee, we
will then visit Yerevan this spring to discuss the establishment
of a clear roadmap for the implementation of these reforms," the
co-rapporteurs said.

In addition to the roadmap, the co-rapporteurs also intend to raise
the issue of the sentencing of Nikol Pashinyan as well as other cases
where they have sought clarification from the authorities.

"A number of issues following the events of March 1 and 2 still need
to be clarified and addressed," the co-rapporteurs said, stressing
the continuing importance and need for the monitoring of political
developments by the Assembly and other relevant bodies of the Council
of Europe.