''Amendments to Articles 225 and 300 will not prevent repetition of march 1 tragedy''
"The document lacks political will to lead the country on a legal path," she said. "The amendments avail the authorities an opportunity to pursue their ambitions, preferences and goals especially during the court ruling of the case against seven leading oppositionists."
No other party, with the exception of the Heritage, expressed an opinion about the amendments. Heritage MP Zaruhy Postanjyan reminded her fellow colleagues of the time and venue of the deadly clashes which left ten people dead in Yerevan streets. In fact, the clashes took place in the streets of Leo and Paronyan, and the amendments do not clarify the exact venue and participants of the March 1 disorder.
Mrs. Postanjyan cited PACE Resolution 1920 according to which the cases against people charged under Articles 225 and 300 on groundless accusation should be discontinued. If you look through the indictments of the seven oppositionists you will become convinced that they neither called for mass riots nor killed anyone. Only Miasnik Malkhasyan had a stick in his hand but no fingerprints were found on it.
The amendments propose solutions to the impasse. At the same time they enable the Prosecutor General to group the indictments against our colleagues under Article 225. The detained MPs will be taken from the courtroom, and the trial will continue without them. Later on they will be pardoned like our colleagues from the ARF Dashnaktsutyun.
Zaruhy Postanjyan says the amendments do not give a chance to prevent further mass riots and to avoid repetition of March 1 clashes. She says the National Assembly had better put the amendments under consideration after getting the opinion of the Venice Commission.
