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PACE Monitoring Committee Concerned About Continuing Arrests In Arme

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  • PACE Monitoring Committee Concerned About Continuing Arrests In Arme

    PACE MONITORING COMMITTEE CONCERNED ABOUT CONTINUING ARRESTS IN ARMENIA

    arminfo
    2008-03-19 10:49:00

    ArmInfo. Meeting in Paris on 18 March 2008, the Monitoring Committee of
    the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) expressed
    its deep concern about the arrest of more than one hundred people
    in Armenia and the conditions in which such arrests took place,
    following the events of 1 March during which eight people died and
    some two hundred persons were injured, CE press-service reports.

    The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
    of Europe (PACE) following a recent return visit to Armenia by John
    Prescott says that the current crackdown on the opposition will likely
    not ease tensions in the country, but its general proposals seem well
    placed to do so.

    The committee was informed by its envoy John Prescott of the main
    conclusions arising from his fact-finding mission to Yerevan, on 7
    and 8 March 2008, and called on all sides to accept Mr Prescott's
    proposals aimed at resolving the current crisis, in particular:the
    recognition by all sides of the authority of the Constitutional Court
    and its ruling on the outcome of the Presidential elections;

    the lifting of the state of emergency and the restoring of individual
    human rights and freedoms;

    the release of all jailed activists who have not committed violent
    crimes;

    the establishment of an independent inquiry into the circumstances
    that led to the events on 1 March 2008 and

    the monitoring of the on-going investigation process;

    the initiation of a dialogue between all political forces, in

    the following areas:

    - reform of the electoral framework with a view to regaining public
    trust in the conduct and outcome of elections;

    - reform of the political system with a view to providing a proper
    place for the opposition in the decision-making process and governance
    of the country;

    - media reform, especially aimed at the creation of a truly independent
    public broadcaster.

    The Monitoring Committee noted that the dialogue between all political
    forces could be initiated in the form of round tables under the
    aegis of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. The committee
    welcomed the fact that all political group leaders in the Assembly
    have requested that a debate under urgent procedure be held on the
    functioning of democratic institutions in Armenia during the April
    part-session of the Assembly (14-18 April 2008).
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