ARMENIAN OFFICIAL CRITICIZES COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Asbarez
Feb 9th, 2010

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-A deputy speaker of Armenia’s parliament strongly
criticized on Tuesday senior officials from the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) for questioning a seven-year prison
sentence given to opposition leader Nikol Pashinian.

A Yerevan court convicted Pashinian last month of organizing the March
2008 deadly clashes in the capital between opposition protesters
and security forces. It was one of the harshest rulings handed in
the trials of several dozen opposition members that were arrested
following the unrest. The ruling, condemned by the Armenian opposition
and human rights groups, disqualified the outspoken oppositionist
from a general amnesty declared by the authorities last June under
pressure from the Council of Europe.

John Prescott and Georges Colombier, the two PACE rapporteurs
monitoring the political situation in Armenia, said last week that
they intend to raise "the issue of the sentencing" of Pashinian and
other jailed oppositionists when they visit Yerevan this spring. "A
number of issues following the events of 1 and 2 March still need to
be clarified and addressed," they said in a statement.

Samvel Nikoyan, the deputy parliament speaker, said that intention
amounts to an illegal interference in the Armenian judiciary’s
affairs. "I can’t understand it when some parliamentarians in
or outside Armenia official voices their doubts or disagreements
regarding a court ruling or call it wrong or say it must be changed,"
he told RFE/RL.

"Do they have such privileges in their countries? Can they express
such a thought in their country?" "We can not make court decisions
a subject of discussion or disagreement," added Nikoyan.

The PACE has repeatedly demanded the immediate release of supporters
of opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian arrested on what it considers
"seemingly artificial or politically motivated charges." The June
amnesty is believed to have been the result of PACE threats to impose
sanctions against Armenia.

Nikoyan, who headed an ad hoc parliament commission investigating the
March 2008 unrest, was also dismissive of Prescott’s and Colombier’s
latest recommendations to the Armenian authorities. "We receive with a
lot of gratitude any assistance, nice words and good will from abroad,
but only we can best solve our problems," he said.

In their last statement, the PACE rapporteurs called for a swift
implementation of recommendations made by Nikoyan’s commission. Those
include a reform of the Armenian police and the electoral code. The
rapporteurs said they will ask the Armenian parliament leadership to
come up with a "clear timetable for these reforms" before the next
meeting of the PACE’s Monitoring Committee slated for March 17.