Europe expects meaningful reforms from Yerevan

The Armenian opposition has submitted a set of proposals on reforms in the South Caucasus state to the Council of Europe

The recent regular Paris session of the PACE monitoring committee was devoted to a discussion of the latest reforms conducted in Armenia in line with Yerevan’s obligations under PACE resolutions adopted in 2008-2009.
 
The Armenian delegation submitted its schedule for the carrying out of reforms suggested to the authorities by the provisional parliamentary committee for the examination of the events which took place March 1, 2008.
 
In particular, the reforms concern the police and military police system, the media, the justice system, as well as reforms of the electoral code.

According to David Arutiunian, the head of the Armenian delegation to PACE, the country’s authorities have vowed to take the first steps to reforms before the April session of PACE.  
 
In particular, the main issues are amending the electoral code, the law “On holding rallies, marches and processions", and affording an opportunity for participation in bids for television and radio frequencies of the non-state television broadcaster "A1+".
Ovik Abramyan, the chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia said that,
 of all the set of tasks, amendment of the Electoral Code according to the
 requirements of  the Council of Europe experts will become the top priority
 task for the country's authorities. According to the speaker, this
 process will have been completed by the end of the year. As for reforming
 the police and military police system, Abramyan said that this process will
 last about two years.  Meanwhile, the speaker didn't give a clear
 answer about meeting the PACE requirements concerning release of
 political prisoners and carrying out independent, unbiased and transparent
 investigations into the events of March 1 in order to unmask those guilty of the
 deaths of 10 people.

 At the conclusion of the discussion on the schedule for the realisation of reforms proposed by the state,
 one reporter, George Colombier, noted that
 the Council of Europe will continue to follow the carrying out of reforms in
 Armenia.  He assessed the submitted schedule positively and welcomed  the
 Armenian authorities' attempts at conducting reforms. Meanwhile, the
 European deputy emphasized that the quality of reforms is far more
 important than the quantity.  The co-reporters are expected to arrive in Armenia

Ovik Abramyan, the speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, said the
amendment to the Electoral Code, according to the requirements of the
Council of Europe experts, will be the top priority for the country’s
authorities.

According to the speaker, this process will be completed by the end of
the year. As for reforming the police and military police system, Abramyan
said that this process will last about two years.


The speaker gave no details about meeting PACE requirements concerning the
release of political prisoners and the carrying out of an independent,
unbiased and transparent investigation into the events of March 1st, in order
to determine who was guilty for the deaths of 10 people in anti-government

The parliamentary Heritage opposition party and the non-parliamentary
Armenian National Congress (ANC) have also submitted their reform proposals
to the Committee. The proposals are aimed at overcoming the domestic policy
crisis that emerged after the presidential elections of February 19, 2008,
and the subsequent tragic events of March 1,

 According to the reforms submitted by Heritage, all political prisoners
 should be released immediately, the March 1 events are to be investigated
 thoroughly, and those officials and private individuals who have committed
 crimes which have lead to the deaths of people are to be charged.  Heritage
 also proposes appointing a special PACE rapporteur for a comprehensive,
 independent and unbiased examination of the March 1 killings of
 anti-government protestors.

 The ANC's proposals consist of 7 clauses, resulting from  the
 recommendations of the PACE resolutions 1609 and 1677: all political
 prisoners are to be immediately released, an independent commission for the
 March 1 events investigation is to be created, the artificial obstacles for
 resumption of the "А1+" broadcasting are to be removed, and the electoral
 system is to be reformed. The ANC set a deadline of the end of May 2010 for the