Recommendations of Armenian parliamentary committee provide ‘a comprehensive although not complete’ response to March 2008 crisis


Strasbourg, 22.12.2009 – The  recommendations of the ad hoc Committee of the National Assembly of Armenia into the events of 1 and 2 March 2008 provide “a comprehensive, although not complete” response to the political crisis, according to an information note by the co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Armenia of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) made public this week.

In their note, Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD) and John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) said the recommendations were regrettably not complemented by a comprehensive analysis of the  events of 1 and 2 March, which they felt was rather one-sided, and gave the impression that the committee wanted to avoid criticizing the authorities. They strongly regretted the almost total lack of analysis of developments that followed these events, and expressed concern at the lack of concrete results from the inquiry into the 10 fatalities that occurred.
The co-rapporteurs recommended the continuation of a special body of the parliament to oversee implementation of the report’s recommendations and conduct further inquiries where necessary. They said they would closely follow this matter in the framework of the regular monitoring of Armenia and report back to PACE’s Monitoring Committee at a future meeting.

Artur Papyan

Journalist, blogger, digital security and media consultant