ANC YOUTH COMMITTEE URGES OSCE TO RELEASE "OBSERVATION OF TRIALS IN ARMENIA" REPORT
yts/
2010/02/12
politics
The Youth Committee of the Armenian National Congress and the Political
Prisoners Committee have addressed the following letter to Ambassador
Yanez Lenarcic, Director of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions
and Human Rights.
As you are well aware the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE) took important steps aimed at overcoming the political
crisis in Armenia, which occurred as a result of a crackdown on
peaceful demonstrators by governmental forces on 1 March 2008. The
PACE adopted four resolutions on democracy in Armenia and currently
also encourages democratic reforms in the country. Unfortunately, the
OSCE/ODIHR’s role in helping Armenia to overcome the deep political
crisis was not as sound as it could have been according to the
mandate of the organization, which is aimed at championing democratic
development, human rights, tolerance, rule of law. In effect, the
OSCE/ODIHR’s followed the retreat of democracy in one of the OSCE
member countries and the imprisonment of dozens of political prisoners,
as an observer. We also regret the fact that during Your Excellency’s
visit to Armenia, you were the only high-level international official,
who did not meet with the representatives of the opposition.
The only visible involvement of the OCSE/ODIHR in the crisis-stricken
Armenia was the observation of trials of March 1 related cases by
the representatives of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission. As in any
similar process, the mentioned observation was due to result in a
comprehensive report. At the end of last year, it became known that
the report "Observation of trials in Armenia" has been prepared and the
draft has been presented to the government of Armenia, as represented
by the Minister of Justice Gevorg Danielyan on 21 November 2009. Later,
the press reported that OSCE/ODIHR plans to publicize the report in
the second half of January 2010.
And recently, the press reported again that the government of Armenia
has asked OSCE/ODIHR not to publicize the report for the time being.
According to information from the press, Armenian authorities have
offered a deal to OSCE/ODIHR so that the latter will not publicize
the report. The fact that the document has not been publicized until
today directly confirms the truthfulness of the information published
in the press. However, regardless of the conditions of any deal
and the motivations of the parties to the deal, the Armenian public
has the right to demand that the organization mandated to reinforce
democracy and human rights in free Europe, where Armenia is a member,
to eventually publish the report.
The publishing of the report is important for us in the sense that
it is yet another material which will allow the Armenian public to
become informed about the nature of shortcomings in Armenia’s judiciary
system and to play its important and natural role, which is to demand
from and work with the authorities to eliminate those shortcomings.
Let us eradicate the distrust toward the OSCE/ODIHR, which was formed
in the Armenian public after the presidential elections of 19 February
2008, when the preliminary report was published the day after the
voting, according to which the elections were basically in line
with European standards, which, however, had nothing to do with the
reality. In the final report issued by the OSCE/ODIHR three months
later, violations only in the pre-electoral period were described on
more than 20 pages. How come that knowing so well about the volume of
violations, the observation mission harshly gave a positive assessment
of the elections?
According to the judgment of numerous experts expressed in the last
two years, one of the main causes of the tragic events of March 1 was
the preliminary report published by the election observation mission,
where OSCE/ODIHR also participated, which allowed the Armenian
authorities to attempt brutally quelling citizens who were justly
protesting against the falsified elections.
Becoming acquainted with the content of the "Observation of trials in
Armenia" report prepared by OSCE/ODIHR, will also provide us with the
opportunity to restore our confidence that Your Excellency is faithful
to the principles of OSCE Charter of Paris. And the Charter states:
"Ours is a time for fulfilling the hopes and expectations our peoples
have cherished for decades: steadfast commitment to democracy based
on human rights and fundamental freedoms; prosperity through economic
liberty and social justice; and equal security for all our countries."
We would like to ask you to do everything possible within the limits of
Your Excellency’s mandate to make the report available to the public.
Sincerely,
Political Prisoners Committee
Youth Committee of the Armenian National Congress
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
