THERE ARE CERTAIN CHANGES

Yesterday the Chairman of Armenia’s Parliament Tigran Torosyan received the EU Special representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby. According to the press office of the NA Torosyan spoke about the number of steps undertaken after the March 1 events. Torosyan presented his approaches and noted that the change in Levon Ter- Petrosyan's position was noticeable at the Congress as well. This is natural as some time has passed, he added. At the same time, Torosyan pointed out that the opposition continues blaming everybody, including the Armenian authorities and European structures, as well as distorting evident facts. He noted that Armenia's legislation lacks items stipulating arrests for political activity and the law-enforcers are aware of this. If it is found out in the course of investigation that people were arrested for their political views, the law-enforcers will be punished. Speaking of the possibility of a dialogue, Torosyan said that the dialogue should cover specific issues and can't be held with preconditions. As for independent investigation, the speaker noted that possible formation of a temporary parliamentary commission on investigation of the March 1 events is still being discussed by parliamentary factions. Torosyan agreed that not all political forces are presented in parliament, but he recalled that a temporary commission had been set up in parliament with participation of other political forces and public organizations to reform the Constitution. Torosyan assured the visiting EU envoy that Yerevan is committed to addressing the European concerns, pointing to the creation last week of a presidential commission tasked with ensuring Armenia’s compliance with the PACE resolution. He also cited his own decision on Tuesday to set up a separate body that will look into international criticism of Armenian elections and suggest ways of improving their conduct in the future. Peter Semneby, the EU’s special representative to the South Caucasus, told parliament speaker Tigran Torosyan that the release of political prisoners, the launch of an independent investigation into the deadly post-election violence in Yerevan and the restoration of freedom of assembly is essential for easing political tensions in Armenia. That would also facilitate a dialogue between the country’s leadership and its opponents led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he said. The press service of the Armenian Parliament quotes Semneby as saying that the EU gives high priority to the release of the people arrested for their political activities and the lifting of restrictions on public actions. It is necessary to create basis for establishing a political dialogue and conducting an independent investigation of the Mar 1 events, particularly, by setting up an interim parliamentary commission and involving the ombudsman in this work. The Armenian Parliament can play a special role in establishing political dialogue even though some of the political forces that should take part in this dialogue are not in the parliament. Semneby said that before meeting with Torossyan he had met with Levon Ter-Petrosyan and noticed some changes in his position. He said that Ter-Petrosyan was ready to join in the political processes. As a response Torosyan said that the change of the approaches of Ter-Petrosyan became quite visible during his last Congress, which in his opinion is quite natural as certain time has passed. “His speech made it clear that he doesn’t know what he is going to do,” Torosyan said. “As of the rest then no change has been registered. He blames everyone, who wasn’t next to him. He blames both the Armenian government and the European structures of his failure,” reads the statement of the NA press service. As a response Semneby other questions the NA chairman mentioned that the RA legislation doesn’t have any provision about political detention. “Everyone is aware of that - the police and if in the result of investigation it turns out that certain people were arrested because of their political views the law-enforcers will be punished.”

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Headlines for May 12, 2008

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