SENTENCE CAN BE REVIEWED
Lragir.am
06/02/10
The president of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH)
Suher Belas and the employee of the organization Alexandra Kulaeva met
today with the Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan. During the meeting,
they discussed the participation of the Minister in Yerevan forum of
the organization scheduled for April 6-8.
FIDH representative drew the attention of the minister on the
circumstances of the death of 10 people on March 1, 2008, noting that
so far nothing in this direction has been done. The minister also
presented the case of Nikol Pashinyan.
`We drew the minister’s attention to the fact that the sentence of
Nikol Pashinyan is too strict, which prevents to declare amnesty to
him. Pashinyan was denied the right to pardon, even though the
government promised amnesty’, said in an interview the president. Mrs.
Suher Belas said in an interview with the Minister, that no matter
what the person is accused, they have the right to justice and fair
trial.
In response, the minister stated that the accusation brought against
Pashinyan is too serious, and he did not think that the sentence was
inadequate, however, he assured that amnesty can be applied, just work
is needed in this direction, said Mrs. Belas.
She also presented the case of Sasha Davtyan who in December of last
year was partly justified by the court. `This case has received
particular attention because the court failed to decide about the
punishment which required the prosecution. It was obvious that force
was used in relation with both the accused side and witnesses’ says
Mrs. Belas who asked to refer the fact that to the Attorney General.
`When there are facts that are not refuted even by the court, there
should be held an objective investigation, and the perpetrators should
definitely be brought to justice. Until this is not taken into
account, there will be no ground to speak about justice’, believes the
human rights activist.
In the same context the case of Gulyan was presented. Gulyan’s family
registered a regular setback in court, although the perpetrators are
still excused. `We told the minister that we are dealing with
impunity, which is a good message to the fact that we will monitor
this case and others `, said Mrs. Belas.
Human rights activists shared their concerns about the Commission for
early release. The Minister listened to the arguments about the
shortcomings in the work of the commission. He noted that they are
working in this direction. The minister considered an important step
the fact of creation of the commission because before decisions were
taken by the court which contained corruption risks.
`The Minister acknowledged that the provision forbidding appeal the
decision of the commission should be reviewed’, said Mrs. Belas.
The human rights activist regarded the conversation with the Minister
as open and effective: `Of course, on certain issues, our views
differed. In particular, on March 1 and the other, the responsibility
of which bears the state. We say this before the international forum,
because during the forum we will discuss all these issues’, said the
human rights activist.
ZHANNA ALEKSANYAN