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"ECHR DECISIONS NEED TO BE EXECUTED"

Politics

“Of course, the events of March 1 were a shock. They were a shock for Armenia, for the Armenian people and for the place of Armenia in Europe, as a whole. Certainly, nobody would have thought that such dramatic events might happen in Armenia but what is more important now is to redress what happened on March 1 and 2. And as you know, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has been examining and is still examining the situation in Armenia. A resolution has been fixed in very clear conditions and expectations from Armenia. A deadline was given to Armenia to restore to these requirements in terms of prosecution, in terms of inquiry and in terms of legislative amendments. The Assembly will reconsider the situation in Armenia, and I very much hope that the Assembly will be able to make a positive assessment of the implementation of the resolution so that there will be no problem with Armenia,” Mr Jean-Louis Laurens, CoE Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs (DGDPA), said during an interview with A1+.

When speaking about the opposition representatives detained after the March 1-2 unrest in Armenia, Mr. Laurens said: “It is one of the issues which is being examined at present. Of course, there might be some good reasons for some people to be in jail. But what we need now is proper prosecution and fair trial.”

Eight months have passed since the March 1 carnage, but no one has stood trial for the murder of the ten victims. “That’s why the Assembly needs a credible inquiry about what happened and where are the responsibilities,” the CoE representative said in this connection.

The PACE resolution clearly demands to provide pluralism in Armenia.

“This is of course an issue of great importance in any democratic system because there is no democracy without free and independent media. In Armenia of course we have reasons to be concerned because there have recently been some amendments to the law on media, particularly in the context of electronic media which raises questions in particular with the location of frequencies, and the implementation of the recent Code of Human Rights. So, this question has been and is presently under examination, that’s why I cannot say at the moment any conclusion about that but one thing is clear - this is an issue which has raised concern.”

Mr. Laurens surely meant the recent amendments to the RoA Law on Television and Radio according to which no tenders for broadcasting frequencies will be held in Armenia by 2010.

In the result of the disputed amendments the embattled TV Company A1+ was deprived of another chance to return to the air despite the ECHR decision and the PACE demand to hold transparent and fair tenders for frequencies. In reply to A1+'s observation, the CoE DGDPA said:

“This is precisely one of the issues which is being discussed now. The decision of the European Court of Human Rights needs to be executed. Even if it is not so popular it is a decision of the ECHR and it should be respected and implemented. This is the fundamental basis of the code human rights, of any traditional system.”