Thomas Hammarberg to meet political prisoners
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg said in the Armenian parliament on January 19 that he was going to meet with people jailed after the deadly events of March 1, 2008.
Before that, Mr. Hammarberg had met with Samvel Nikoyan, Chairman of the National Assembly's ad-hoc committee looking into the events of March 1-2.
During the meeting, Mr. Nikoyan presented the CoE official the final report of the interim committee.
Thomas Hammarberg also held meetings with representatives of the Coalition government Artak Zakaryan (Republican Party), Nairi Zohrabyan (Prosperous Armenia Party) and Hovhannes Margaryan (Country of Law Party).
Nairi Zohrabyan and Hovhannes Margaryan detailed on the interim committee's activity. According to Zohrabyan, the committee aims to answer all questions related to the events of March 1. On the advice of the interim committee, the parliament amended the Law on Conducting Meetings, Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations.
Thomas Hammarberg also held a meeting with ARF-Dashnaktsutyun representatives Armen Rustamyan, Artsvik Minasyan and Artyusha Shahbazyan to discuss issues of human rights and amendments to the Electoral Code.
During a meeting with Heritage Party MPs Zaruhi Postanjyan and Armen Martirosyan, Thomas Hammarberg inquired about the trials on March events,
The Heritage representatives presented their stance on the freedom of speech, activity of the National Commission on Television and Radio and Electoral Code.
"The lack of a free TV Company in Armenia before the elections puts the issue of transparent elections into question," said the Heritage representatives.
