Strasbourg, 02.04.2009 – The co-rapporteurs for Armenia of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD) and John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), today welcomed the adoption of amendments to Articles 300 and 225 of the Armenian criminal code. The co-rapporteurs underlined that, in its opinion, the Venice Commission considered that these amendments would be a clear improvement to the Law, and considerably reduce the scope for over-broad and abusive interpretation.
“We note that the changes introduced to the Law within the agreed timeframe, on the basis of proposals by the special working group set up by the Speaker of the National Assembly, are fully in line with what was indicated to us in January this year. This is a clear signal from the Parliament that it wants to avoid any politically-motivated application of these articles. It is clear to us that this should have a considerable effect on the cases in relation to those deprived of their freedom in relation to the events of 1 and 2 March 2008 which are currently before the courts,” said the co-rapporteurs.
However, they stressed that it is the application of these amendments that will ultimately count. We hope that the authorities, and especially the Prosecutor General, will now follow the clear signal made by the National Assembly,” said the co-rapporteurs. “We repeat that the Assembly has demanded that all persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events of 1 and 2 March, and who did not personally commit violent crimes, should be released. These amendments offer an effective mechanism for Armenia to comply with that demand,” said the co-rapporteurs. “However, we want to stress that there are also persons deprived of their liberty who are not covered by Articles 300 and 225 of the Criminal Code. We will therefore continue our dialogue with the authorities, and the National Assembly of Armenia, with the aim of securing their release.”
The co-rapporteurs will report back to the Monitoring Committee during the April part-session on the progress made by Armenia in implementing Resolutions 1609 (2008), 1620 (2008) and 1643 (2009), especially with regard to the persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events of 1 and 2 March 2008.
