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Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Caucasus Reporting Service
Armenia Escapes Europe Ban
Council of Europe resolution postpones day of reckoning for Yerevan
government.
By Rita Karapetian in Yerevan (CRS No. 450, 03-Jul-08)
The Armenian opposition has criticised a decision by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, to give the government more time to
meet a series of tough benchmarks for democracy.
The assembly decided to give Armenia until January next year to meet a
number of criteria set following the political crisis created by a disputed
presidential election in February and the bloodshed that followed it on
March 1-2.
It will still face the risk of losing its voting rights in PACE if it is
deemed to have failed to comply with these demands.
Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian said his country had already begun to
move ahead.
`We don't need short-term solutions and formal proposals,' he said. `What is
important is the foundations that are being laid down, and the decisions
taken, are focused on the future.'
But former president and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian was scathing
about the PACE decision, saying the assembly had shirked its duty.
He described the PACE rapporteurs on Armenia, Georges Colombier and John
Prescott as `defence lawyers' for the Armenian government.
`The Council of Europe has demonstrated its inability to force the
authorities of Armenia to fulfil the demands of Resolution 1609 within the
set time, and that is a result of the indecisiveness and lack of principles
of the Council of Europe,' said Ter-Petrosian.
Resolution 1609, passed on April 17, requires Armenia `to release all
persons detained on seemingly artificial and politically motivated charges',
to make changes to the law on public assembly, and to hold an independent
investigation into the bloodshed. It also calls for dialogue between the
authorities and the opposition.
In a new resolution, numbered 1620 and passed on June 25, the assembly said,
`While regretting the delay in implementing the concrete measures to comply
with its demands, the Assembly acknowledges that the time given to the
Armenian authorities was short.'
It resolved to send the council's human rights commissioner, Thomas
Hammarberg, to Armenia to report back in September on the questions of the
investigation demanded by PACE and the release of detainees.
Colombier, one of the two rapporteurs, told Radio Liberty, `Armenia is
waiting for us to help it and not just condemn it. The authorities in
Armenia ought to prove that Armenia is climbing out of the pit which it fell
into accidentally after March 1.'
Raffi Hovannissian, leader of the Heritage Party and one of the few
opposition members included in the delegation to Strasbourg, walked out of
the session in protest, saying he was suspending his own cooperation with
PACE, `until Armenia meets both its own and European standards.'
`Armenia has failed its democracy test,' he said. `There are still dozens of
political prisoners here and they should be freed now, not next January.'
Stepan Safarian, a member of parliament from the Heritage Party, called the
resolution `another plausible lie', which he said gave the impression that
the Armenian government was instituting reforms when it was not actually
doing so. What was needed, he said, was deep institutional reform, which the
government was currently avoiding.
Alexander Iskandarian, director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan, said
the decision to postpone a decision was not unexpected.
`PACE has no interest in subjecting Armenia to tough sanctions, as was the
case previously with Belarus,' he said. `PACE is interested in getting rid
of the tension and crisis in the country, and it prefers to do that sitting
at the negotiation table, not in a tough confrontation.'
The authorities and pro-government parliamentarians say that they have made
real progress in meeting PACE's demands. They point, for example, to a
commission of enquiry formed to investigate the events of March 1-2.
Naira Zohrabian, a member of parliament with the pro-government Prosperous
Armenia party said it was `unprecedented' that this commission included
representatives from outside parliament.
Ter-Petrosian has refused to take part in the commission. Hovannissian,
meanwhile, proposed that two members of parliament arrested after the March
1-2 trouble, Myasnik Malkhasian and Sasun Mikaelian, should be invited onto
the commission - a suggestion that was turned down.
At a recent rally in Yerevan, Ter-Petrosian said his only demand for the
moment was for the release of political prisoners. If that happened, he
said, he was ready to enter into a dialogue with the authorities.
The prosecutor's office insists there are no political prisoners in Armenia,
but Ter-Petrosian says that any members of his opposition movement now in
detention were arrested on political charges.
According to chief prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepian, 46 out of the 115 people
detained have been released.
The new PACE resolution is being seen as a provisional victory for President
Sarkisian. The confrontation between opposition and government is likely to
continue for the remainder of the year.
Harutiun Khachatrian, an analyst with Noyan Tapan news agency, said the
decision would allow the president to buy more time to consolidate his
power.
Levon Zurabian, a leading member of Ter-Petrosian's Popular Movement, noted
that at least the resolution kept the Armenian government under PACE's
supervision. with the threat of sanctions still hanging over it.
Opposition groups did have occasion to celebrate another decision coming out
of Strasbourg. The European Court of Human Rights ruled on June 17 that the
Armenian government had acted illegally by revoking the broadcasting license
of pro-opposition television station A1+ in 2002. The government was ordered
to pay a 20,000 euro fine.
Terry Davis, secretary general of the Council of Europe, welcomed the ruling
as a victory for freedom of speech.
However, it is not clear if and when the station will be allowed to start
broadcasting again.
One point in the PACE resolution, calling for A1+'s license to be restored,
was taken out after pro-government deputies argued it was up to the national
broadcasting commission to hold an open tender process for licenses.
The director of A1+, Mesrop Movsisian, told IWPR that a new range of
frequencies would become available this autumn, and his company would be
among the bidders.
Rita Karapetian is a journalist with the Noyan Tapan news agency in Yerevan.
Caucasus Reporting Service
Armenia Escapes Europe Ban
Council of Europe resolution postpones day of reckoning for Yerevan
government.
By Rita Karapetian in Yerevan (CRS No. 450, 03-Jul-08)
The Armenian opposition has criticised a decision by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, to give the government more time to
meet a series of tough benchmarks for democracy.
The assembly decided to give Armenia until January next year to meet a
number of criteria set following the political crisis created by a disputed
presidential election in February and the bloodshed that followed it on
March 1-2.
It will still face the risk of losing its voting rights in PACE if it is
deemed to have failed to comply with these demands.
Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian said his country had already begun to
move ahead.
`We don't need short-term solutions and formal proposals,' he said. `What is
important is the foundations that are being laid down, and the decisions
taken, are focused on the future.'
But former president and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian was scathing
about the PACE decision, saying the assembly had shirked its duty.
He described the PACE rapporteurs on Armenia, Georges Colombier and John
Prescott as `defence lawyers' for the Armenian government.
`The Council of Europe has demonstrated its inability to force the
authorities of Armenia to fulfil the demands of Resolution 1609 within the
set time, and that is a result of the indecisiveness and lack of principles
of the Council of Europe,' said Ter-Petrosian.
Resolution 1609, passed on April 17, requires Armenia `to release all
persons detained on seemingly artificial and politically motivated charges',
to make changes to the law on public assembly, and to hold an independent
investigation into the bloodshed. It also calls for dialogue between the
authorities and the opposition.
In a new resolution, numbered 1620 and passed on June 25, the assembly said,
`While regretting the delay in implementing the concrete measures to comply
with its demands, the Assembly acknowledges that the time given to the
Armenian authorities was short.'
It resolved to send the council's human rights commissioner, Thomas
Hammarberg, to Armenia to report back in September on the questions of the
investigation demanded by PACE and the release of detainees.
Colombier, one of the two rapporteurs, told Radio Liberty, `Armenia is
waiting for us to help it and not just condemn it. The authorities in
Armenia ought to prove that Armenia is climbing out of the pit which it fell
into accidentally after March 1.'
Raffi Hovannissian, leader of the Heritage Party and one of the few
opposition members included in the delegation to Strasbourg, walked out of
the session in protest, saying he was suspending his own cooperation with
PACE, `until Armenia meets both its own and European standards.'
`Armenia has failed its democracy test,' he said. `There are still dozens of
political prisoners here and they should be freed now, not next January.'
Stepan Safarian, a member of parliament from the Heritage Party, called the
resolution `another plausible lie', which he said gave the impression that
the Armenian government was instituting reforms when it was not actually
doing so. What was needed, he said, was deep institutional reform, which the
government was currently avoiding.
Alexander Iskandarian, director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan, said
the decision to postpone a decision was not unexpected.
`PACE has no interest in subjecting Armenia to tough sanctions, as was the
case previously with Belarus,' he said. `PACE is interested in getting rid
of the tension and crisis in the country, and it prefers to do that sitting
at the negotiation table, not in a tough confrontation.'
The authorities and pro-government parliamentarians say that they have made
real progress in meeting PACE's demands. They point, for example, to a
commission of enquiry formed to investigate the events of March 1-2.
Naira Zohrabian, a member of parliament with the pro-government Prosperous
Armenia party said it was `unprecedented' that this commission included
representatives from outside parliament.
Ter-Petrosian has refused to take part in the commission. Hovannissian,
meanwhile, proposed that two members of parliament arrested after the March
1-2 trouble, Myasnik Malkhasian and Sasun Mikaelian, should be invited onto
the commission - a suggestion that was turned down.
At a recent rally in Yerevan, Ter-Petrosian said his only demand for the
moment was for the release of political prisoners. If that happened, he
said, he was ready to enter into a dialogue with the authorities.
The prosecutor's office insists there are no political prisoners in Armenia,
but Ter-Petrosian says that any members of his opposition movement now in
detention were arrested on political charges.
According to chief prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepian, 46 out of the 115 people
detained have been released.
The new PACE resolution is being seen as a provisional victory for President
Sarkisian. The confrontation between opposition and government is likely to
continue for the remainder of the year.
Harutiun Khachatrian, an analyst with Noyan Tapan news agency, said the
decision would allow the president to buy more time to consolidate his
power.
Levon Zurabian, a leading member of Ter-Petrosian's Popular Movement, noted
that at least the resolution kept the Armenian government under PACE's
supervision. with the threat of sanctions still hanging over it.
Opposition groups did have occasion to celebrate another decision coming out
of Strasbourg. The European Court of Human Rights ruled on June 17 that the
Armenian government had acted illegally by revoking the broadcasting license
of pro-opposition television station A1+ in 2002. The government was ordered
to pay a 20,000 euro fine.
Terry Davis, secretary general of the Council of Europe, welcomed the ruling
as a victory for freedom of speech.
However, it is not clear if and when the station will be allowed to start
broadcasting again.
One point in the PACE resolution, calling for A1+'s license to be restored,
was taken out after pro-government deputies argued it was up to the national
broadcasting commission to hold an open tender process for licenses.
The director of A1+, Mesrop Movsisian, told IWPR that a new range of
frequencies would become available this autumn, and his company would be
among the bidders.
Rita Karapetian is a journalist with the Noyan Tapan news agency in Yerevan.