"Comprehensive, although not complete"
The press service of PACE released the evaluation of the co-rapporteurs for Armenia regarding the report by the NA ad hoc committee leading an investigation into the events of March 1-2, 2008.
The conclusions of Samvel Nikoyan's committee provide "a comprehensive, although not complete" response to the political crisis, say the co-rapporteurs for Armenia regarding the document sent to PACE.
Co-rapporteurs Georges Colombier and John Prescott noted the "rather one-sided, bordering on biased" description of the events leading up to the crisis and the almost total lack of analysis of developments that followed the events of March 1 and 2. The committee blames the opposition and mainly avoided blaming the authorities.
According to the co-rapporteurs, the events following March 1-2, particularly the arrests and persecutions against many opposition supporters are not discussed and analyzed in the report.
Touching upon the revelation of the 10 fatalities, John Prescott and Georges Colombier underline that there have not been concrete results to this day.
According to the co-rapporteurs, the bullets that were shot at 5 of the 10 victims on March 1 must be found and the weapons that were used to kill people must also be found.
If responses are not given to those concerns, they will lead to suspicions that the police are trying to conceal the events.
The co-rapporteurs recommended the continuation of a special ad hoc committee of the parliament to conduct further inquires and oversee implementation of the report's recommendations. They said they would closely follow the matter in the framework of the regular monitoring of Armenia and report back to PACE's Monitoring Committee at a future meeting.
