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THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA HAS BEEN REPRIMANDED FOR CASES OF POLITICAL PERSECUTION
April 1 2013
A mid-term assessment given by the Civil Society Institute (CSI),
the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), and the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) urges the Republic of Armenia: "End
politically motivated prosecutions of individuals deemed opposition,
and take steps to strengthen the rule of law, including respecting
minimum guarantees as laid out in the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, equal protection of the law, and judicial
independence." www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with
human rights advocates whether one could see the government of the
Republic of Armenia show political will to solve problems, along with
the international organizations' reminding the Republic of Armenia
about the above-mentioned issues. Vardan Harutyunyan, the manager
of the Rights and Freedom Center, said in this regard: "That foreign
organizations talk about the issues of prisoners of conscience, people
persecuted for political reasons is good and effective leverage that
can be used against the government of the Republic of Armenia.
However, I don't see any manifestation of political will. The
government of the Republic of Armenia has used and continues to
use political persecutions to strengthen its position. A striking
example of that is the case of the Armenian National Congress (ANC)
youth, Tigran Arakelyan. Pressure from outside should be so strong
that the government of the Republic of Armenia is not compelled to
take measures. Otherwise, a long time is needed for the government
to realize the essence and importance of the issue." In response to
the counterarguments put forward by the government that the foreign
organizations used the above-mentioned issues for internal political
pressures, V. Harutyunyan said: "There are no limits for human
rights protection, it is above the state interests, the government's
interests, and I don't have any such fear. Let me remind with regard
to those counterarguments that the Soviet Union would also say, 'They
interfere in our internal affairs' etc. Thus, all dictatorships try
to justify themselves like that. Human rights are not internal affairs.
For example, if in Brazil, in Canada, in America, human rights
are violated; it is also our, the Armenians', business too." Tigran
Yegoryan, an attorney at law, recalled the post-election developments
with regard to the raised question and expressed the following opinion:
"If political will has been shown, we would have at least seen fair
trials of electoral cases, whereas we see the Special Investigative
Service (SIS) be engaged in petty confrontations with counselors,
wishing to prove that it is the SIS, not an ordinary investigative
body. In that case, political will is out of the question, when
the most important investigative body doesn't conduct an efficient
investigation into the cases of electoral fraud." T.
Yegoryan gave the example of the cases of Narine Ismail, Artak
Hambardzumyan, and Narek Babayan and went into detail: "Can political
will be in question, when trying to make an impression, prosecutors and
representatives of the police of different caliber talked about their
readiness at different TV shows to conduct impartial investigation
into more than 20 cases, but we witness now how the majority of
those cases are declined one by one. What is the problem that the
state doesn't show enough political will and doesn't properly examine
all the cases of electoral fraud, moreover, different investigative
bodies, but not the SIS, examine and decline the majority of them,
whereas the law requires that the SIS conduct investigation. For
example, before the ruling of the Constitutional Court, in the most
heated period, different prosecuting bodies had been very active;
their representatives would put forward numbers regarding the prepared
material and the investigations launched all the tame. After the ruling
of the Constitutional Court, no one has talked about them. Moreover, we
still have complaints about the investigations that were not launched
during the 2012 National Assembly election. Those investigations
have not been carried through so far. They started to decline all
those cases secretly. Political will is out of the question given
all this." Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/04/01/153319/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
From: Baghdasarian
April 1 2013
A mid-term assessment given by the Civil Society Institute (CSI),
the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), and the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) urges the Republic of Armenia: "End
politically motivated prosecutions of individuals deemed opposition,
and take steps to strengthen the rule of law, including respecting
minimum guarantees as laid out in the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, equal protection of the law, and judicial
independence." www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with
human rights advocates whether one could see the government of the
Republic of Armenia show political will to solve problems, along with
the international organizations' reminding the Republic of Armenia
about the above-mentioned issues. Vardan Harutyunyan, the manager
of the Rights and Freedom Center, said in this regard: "That foreign
organizations talk about the issues of prisoners of conscience, people
persecuted for political reasons is good and effective leverage that
can be used against the government of the Republic of Armenia.
However, I don't see any manifestation of political will. The
government of the Republic of Armenia has used and continues to
use political persecutions to strengthen its position. A striking
example of that is the case of the Armenian National Congress (ANC)
youth, Tigran Arakelyan. Pressure from outside should be so strong
that the government of the Republic of Armenia is not compelled to
take measures. Otherwise, a long time is needed for the government
to realize the essence and importance of the issue." In response to
the counterarguments put forward by the government that the foreign
organizations used the above-mentioned issues for internal political
pressures, V. Harutyunyan said: "There are no limits for human
rights protection, it is above the state interests, the government's
interests, and I don't have any such fear. Let me remind with regard
to those counterarguments that the Soviet Union would also say, 'They
interfere in our internal affairs' etc. Thus, all dictatorships try
to justify themselves like that. Human rights are not internal affairs.
For example, if in Brazil, in Canada, in America, human rights
are violated; it is also our, the Armenians', business too." Tigran
Yegoryan, an attorney at law, recalled the post-election developments
with regard to the raised question and expressed the following opinion:
"If political will has been shown, we would have at least seen fair
trials of electoral cases, whereas we see the Special Investigative
Service (SIS) be engaged in petty confrontations with counselors,
wishing to prove that it is the SIS, not an ordinary investigative
body. In that case, political will is out of the question, when
the most important investigative body doesn't conduct an efficient
investigation into the cases of electoral fraud." T.
Yegoryan gave the example of the cases of Narine Ismail, Artak
Hambardzumyan, and Narek Babayan and went into detail: "Can political
will be in question, when trying to make an impression, prosecutors and
representatives of the police of different caliber talked about their
readiness at different TV shows to conduct impartial investigation
into more than 20 cases, but we witness now how the majority of
those cases are declined one by one. What is the problem that the
state doesn't show enough political will and doesn't properly examine
all the cases of electoral fraud, moreover, different investigative
bodies, but not the SIS, examine and decline the majority of them,
whereas the law requires that the SIS conduct investigation. For
example, before the ruling of the Constitutional Court, in the most
heated period, different prosecuting bodies had been very active;
their representatives would put forward numbers regarding the prepared
material and the investigations launched all the tame. After the ruling
of the Constitutional Court, no one has talked about them. Moreover, we
still have complaints about the investigations that were not launched
during the 2012 National Assembly election. Those investigations
have not been carried through so far. They started to decline all
those cases secretly. Political will is out of the question given
all this." Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/04/01/153319/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
From: Baghdasarian