Invitation rejected
The 37-th international forum of International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) titled "Justice. The right to an effective remedy before an independent jurisdiction. New Challenges" will be held in Yerevan on April 6-8. The upcoming event will be attended by delegates from more than 100 countries as well as high-ranked officials of influential European organizations.
Armenian advocacy organizations are among the invitees. In his letter to the forum organizers, Vartan Harutyunyan, Head of the Centre of Right and Freedom NGO rejected the invitation.
"Regardless of any project proposed by an international structure, Armenian authorities will attempt to use the opportunity on their behalf, which, of course, will be an unsuccessful experience. I do not want to deal with these authorities therefore I rejected the invitation," Vardan Harutyunyan told A1+.
Asked whether his withdrawal will not promote to the error concealment, Mr. Vradanyan said: "In fact, the invitees are not granted freedom of speech. Armenian delegates will simply have to listen to the RA Justice Minister's report on independent courts but they cannot speak against the report."
Vardan Harutyunyan depicted Armenia's real image in the letter addressed to the forum organizers. The letter reads in part:
"The situation in Armenia is quite different today. The presidential election of 2008 was conducted with large-scale violations. Thousands of Armenians went to the street in protest against the authorities who came to power through fraudulent vote.
Authorities decided to "silence" the opposition's peaceful demonstrations by force. On March 1, 2008, riot police and Armed forces were sent against demonstrators. They came into clashes with the demonstrators leaving 10 dead and 200 injured in downtown Yerevan. To date, no one has been made accountable for the deadly clashes.
Neither the perpetrators nor the organizers have been detected. Dissatisfied with the murder of ten victims, the authorities started mass arrests and a chase against the proponents of the opposition candidate at the same time announcing the post-election events as an attempt of power seizure.
Hundreds of people were detained, many businessmen lost their jobs because of their political views. Armenian prisons were filled with political prisoners. Two years have since then but many of them are still in jails.
Armenian courts having nothing in common with justice returned similar verdicts on the basis of trumped-up evidence of policemen. They did their utmost to please the authorities.
Nothing has changed during the past two years. The situation became even worse. Political persecutions are still ongoing, courts obviously meet the authorities' demands, and opposition-linked businessmen lose their businesses. Marches and demonstrations are banned in the country. PACE, OSCE/ODIHR and U.S. Department of State, Freedom House and Human Rights Watch have already given assessments to the state in Armenia.
