LAW ON RALLIES AND MARCHES UNDER CONSIDERATION
Support A1+!On April 16 NA Speaker Tigran Torossian and the expert of the CoE Venice Commission Simona Granata-Menghini and the OSCE/ODIHR experts Denis Petit and Neil Jarman continued the discussion of the conclusion and recommendations regarding the amendments to the Armenian law on assemblies, rallies, marches and demonstrations passed on March 17, 2008.
The experts of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR recommended revising the law on marches and assemblies to solve three main problems: first, the procedure for the verification of reliability of information used in risk assessment and public order decision-making, which appears to foreclose or limit the opportunity for such decisions to be reviewed by an independent tribunal or court; second, the absence of any express geographical limitation or timeframe “sunset” clause; third, the elimination of the provision that allowed smaller events to develop spontaneously into “mass” assemblies.
As a result of a two days' discussion a full agreement was reached on all the three issues raised in the recommendation of the experts. A memorandum was drafted on amendments to the law on assemblies, rallies, marches and demonstrations which is posted on the web site of the National Assembly, the news release of the National Assembly reports.
On the basis of agreement with the OSCE/ODIHR experts a bill of amendments to the law will be drafted which will be extended to the experts by April 25. After the conclusion of the experts the bill will be discussed and voted. The bill will be circulated and posted on the web site of the National Assembly, will be accessible to the civil society, the National Assembly will be open for proposals. At the same time, NA Speaker Tigran Torossian noted that it is foreseen to set up a working group which will study the recommendations and observations of the observation missions and different organizations regarding the improvement of the Election Code, as well as legislation. The bills drafted as a result of discussions will be proposed to the National Assembly, runs the release of the department of public relations of the parliament.
