AGREEMENT WITH THE EXPERTS OF THE VENICE COMMISSION OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND OSCE/ODIHR
National Assembly of RA
April 17 2008
Armenia
On April 16 in the National Assembly the Speaker of the National
Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Tigran Torosyan, Justice
Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Gevorg Danielyan, Assistant to
the President of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Gevorg Mheryan and the
expert of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe Ms. Simona
Granata-Menghini and experts of the OSCE/ODIHR Mr. Denis Petit and
Mr. Neil Jarman continued the discussions of the conclusion on the
amendments adopted on March 17, 2008 to the law of the Republic of
Armenia on Conducting Meetings, Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations.
The experts proposed to amend the law in their conclusion for solving
the following main issues: clarify the bases affirming the credibility
of the conclusion of the prohibition of the mass event, clarify the
envisaged terms for the discussion of notification, define conditions
for conducting spontaneous events.
As a result of discussions, a full agreement was reached regarding the
issues that the experts recorded in their conclusion. A memorandum
was made on the Amendments to the RA Law on Conducting Meetings,
Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations, which is posted on the website
of the National Assembly.
Based on the agreements reached with the experts of the Venice
Commission of the Council of Europe and OSCE/ODIHR a draft law
on Making the amendments to the Law of the Republic of Armenia on
Conducting Meetings, Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations will
be developed and will be sent to the experts by April 25. The draft
law will be discussed and adopted in the parliament after receiving
the experts’ conclusion. The draft law will be put into circulation
and also posted on the website of the National Assembly, it will
be available for the civil society – the National Assembly is open
for proposals.
At the same time the Speaker of the National Assembly of the
Republic of Armenia Mr. Tigran Torosyan said that a working group is
envisaged to set up, which will discuss the proposals and comments
of the observation missions and different organizations regarding
the presidential elections. As a result of discussions, the amended
draft laws will be submitted to the National Assembly in future.