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Dialog Suspended: Parties Exchange Accusations of Deception
hetq
12:50, August 27, 2011
In a tirade of charges and counter-charges, the faltering dialog
between the Armenian government and the opposition based HAK (Armenian
National Congress) ground to a halt on Friday.
The HAK pulled out of the next scheduled meeting yesterday at the last
minute, claiming that they could not continue to "dialog" when Tigran
Arakelyan, one of their young activists, arrested earlier this month,
remains in police detention.
In a statement, the HAK accused the government of going back on its
pledge to work for the immediate release of the activist.
In turn, the government's delegation to the talks said that it had
never made such a pledge and accused the HAK of intentionally
spreading lies.
"We regret not so much your lies as the fact that we have started not
trusting in you," the coalition's negotiating team stated.
The coalition team said the issue of the continued arrest of the HAK
activist was a legal matter and not one to be discussed during the
ongoing political process.
"We will repeat what we said during the previous meetings: we did not,
do not and will not link the issue of the young man involved in the
incident with this important political process because it completely
lies on a legal plane," read the coalition statement.
HAK representative Levon Zurabyan continues to argue that the activist
remains in custody "contrary to mutual understandings and assurances."
hetq
12:50, August 27, 2011
In a tirade of charges and counter-charges, the faltering dialog
between the Armenian government and the opposition based HAK (Armenian
National Congress) ground to a halt on Friday.
The HAK pulled out of the next scheduled meeting yesterday at the last
minute, claiming that they could not continue to "dialog" when Tigran
Arakelyan, one of their young activists, arrested earlier this month,
remains in police detention.
In a statement, the HAK accused the government of going back on its
pledge to work for the immediate release of the activist.
In turn, the government's delegation to the talks said that it had
never made such a pledge and accused the HAK of intentionally
spreading lies.
"We regret not so much your lies as the fact that we have started not
trusting in you," the coalition's negotiating team stated.
The coalition team said the issue of the continued arrest of the HAK
activist was a legal matter and not one to be discussed during the
ongoing political process.
"We will repeat what we said during the previous meetings: we did not,
do not and will not link the issue of the young man involved in the
incident with this important political process because it completely
lies on a legal plane," read the coalition statement.
HAK representative Levon Zurabyan continues to argue that the activist
remains in custody "contrary to mutual understandings and assurances."