Epress.am News from Armenia
“I don’t pretend I can solve all of humanity’s problems,” said Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg in a press conference tweeted live by Epress.am in Yerevan, Armenia, today.
The press conference opened with Hammarberg recounted all the meetings he had with both official and unofficial individuals in Armenia, including General Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepyan, ruling coalition forces, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), Heritage Party member, as well as with independent news agencies A1+ and GALA TV.
“I have visited those imprisoned after the March 1 events and I have gone to Artik prison,” he said, noting that all conclusions will be included in the Armenia report he will be preparing.
The CoE Commissioner for Human Rights promised to address the March 1, 2008 events in his report.
“We will go to Strasbourg, we will digest the information and we will present a report to our directors,” he said, noting that the uncovered deaths of 10 civilians in mass riots following the contested Feb. 2008 presidential election in Armenia concerns him.
“That is a serious failure. I have called on the authorities to release those arrested after the March 1 incidents,” he said, not agreeing to refer to the men as “political prisoners,” saying this term is absent from international human rights treaties. He did, however, note:
“I believe there was a political aspect to their imprisonment. Instead, I use the terms [the right to a] ‘fair trial’ and ‘equality under the law’.”