ELDR calls on Armenia to Release Political Prisoners
Last week, ELDR Vice President Markus Löning (of LI Full Member FDP) called on Armenia's government to release the political prisoners that remain imprisoned for protesting against what they feel were falsified elections in 2008.
In a statement he said that "it is not acceptable that a member state of the Council of Europe and the Eastern Partnership and a major recipient of aid from European tax payers' money is keeping people in prison for political reasons."
The 2008 presidential elections have been criticised by international observers. Several organisations have expressed concerns about the overall political situation in Armenia tilting towards authoritarianism. However, when confronting a high-level audience in London, which included LI Secretary General Emil Kirjas and LI Officer Amanda Sundell, Armenian President Serg Sargsyan preferred to discuss geopolitics and the relations between Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. The Eastern Partnership region will this spring be under special LI scrutiny, as Bureau members and the Secretariat prepare to attend an FNF Conference on the issue in Berlin 26-28 February 2010.
