PACE turns over March 1 page with reservation
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe maintained the formulation "The page of the events of March 1 can finally be considered turned over" in its Resolution 1837 on Armenia, but it also made an addition.
"The last amnesty in Armenia, the new investigation into the 10 murders committed during the events of March 1, as well as the constructive dialogue that began between the ruling coalition and the opposition means that the page of the events of 1 March 2008 can finally be considered turned over, but monitoring of commitments to human rights and democracy in Armenia, including the investigation into the ten murders committed on March 1 will definitely continue," as stated in Resolution 1837 entitled "Function of Democratic Institutions in Armenia".
The Resolution, which was adopted on the grounds of the report by Co-Rapporteurs Axel Fisher and John Prescott, welcomes "the political will shown by the authorities and truly all political forces to solve the issue in line with EU standards and commitments."
According to the PACE members, the events in 2008 and the effects set clear priorities for the country's democratic development.
The Resolution welcomes the "close and constructive collaboration" between the Assembly and the Armenian authorities, which is considered an "example" for the development of cooperation within the framework of the Assembly's monitoring.
The Resolution was adopted with 40 for, 3 against and 1 neutral, and the person who voted neutral was ARF MP Armen Rustamyan. "Heritage" Party Representative Zaruhi Postanjyan didn't take part in the vote. The Azeri delegates voted against and hadn't missed out on the opportunity to allege Armenia for different issues.
Let us mention that Armen Rustamyan and Zaruhi Postanjyan had proposed to remove the point in the Resolution stating that "the chapter on the events of March 2008 can be considered closed", as well as add that the proposals made by the parliamentary opposition, that is, ARF and "Heritage", weren't included in the Electoral Code.
Whereas the Armenian parliamentarians' views in relation to the events of March 1 were partially taken into account, the second correction wasn't approved.
