Armenian opposition not to collect signatures to remove president

Arminfo
2 Jul 04

YEREVAN

Today’s session of the political council of the opposition Justice
bloc decided not to organize a campaign to collect signatures for
demanding the resignation of Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and
for holding extraordinary presidential elections, the secretary of the
Justice parliamentary faction, Viktor Dallakyan, has told Arminfo news
agency.

The session agreed that the overwhelming majority of the Armenian
population wants Kocharyan’s resignation and hence, there is no point
in wasting efforts and resources to confirm this once
again. “Collecting signatures does not make sense also because
according to the existing laws, the signatures will not be legally
binding.” Dallakyan said.

The Justice bloc will soon conduct a press conference, which will
“draw conclusions on the results of the persecution of opposition
leaders and activists in spring”, he said. “More than 1,000 people
were subjected to administrative persecution between March and June,
and two of them – Edgar Arakelyan and Lavrentiy Kirakosyan – are still
under arrest. The lawyers of the convicts will be present at the press
conference, and a general assessment will be made on political
repression,” he said.