Armenian Ombudsman promises to personally deal with Pashinyan’s case

Feb 10 2010, 21:00
2457/

A special working group was formed in the office of the Armenian
Ombudsman with the aim to deal with the case of the well-known
journalist Nikol Pashinyan, an activist of the opposition, who was
convicted to seven years of imprisonment. Ombudsman Armen Arutyunyan
promised to personally deal with the case.

"So far, we haven’t arrived to the final conclusion whether the
editor-in-chief of the newspaper ‘Armenian Time’ Nikol Pashinyan is
covered by the amnesty," he has noted.

He has reported about the working group of four experts, formed in his
office specifically to study this case. According to the Ombudsman,
the opinions in the group as to Pashinyan’s amnesty split equally: two
experts assert that he should be amnestied, while the rest of them
stick to the opposite opinion.

"We have no unanimous approach: the issue needs a deeper study. If the
unequivocal opinion as to his detention is absent, any doubts shall be
interpreted in favour of the citizen. This is the demand of the law,
and the dilemma should be resolved in favour of Nikol Pashinyan," Mr
Arutyunyan said.
From: Baghdasarian