24/10/2008 Monitoring
The co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Armenia of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) and Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD), today welcomed the Presidential Decree establishing an expert fact-finding group to look into the events in Armenia on 1 and 2 March 2008 and the circumstances that led to them.
“This is as an important step towards meeting the Assembly’s demands that an independent, transparent and credible inquiry into these events be conducted,” said the two parliamentarians.
However, they also stressed that the manner in which this group conducts its work, as well as the access it has to the relevant state institutions at all levels, will ultimately decide if the inquiry will be seen as credible in the eyes of the Armenian public. “All parties should nominate their representatives as quickly as possible. It is now time to deliver results,” they said.
The co-rapporteurs expressed their hope that the establishment of the expert fact-finding group would soon be followed by similarly positive steps regarding the fate of the persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events of 1 and 2 March, which continues to be an issue of great concern to the Assembly.
“We would like to be able to report to the Monitoring Committee, when it meets on 17 December, that there has been tangible and irreversible progress with regard to the independent and credible inquiry, as well as the issue of persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events on 1 and 2 March,” the co-rapporteurs stressed.