Epress.am News from Armenia
Heritage Party MP and member of Armenia’s delegation to PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) Zaruhi Postanjyan, meeting with journalists today, spoke of the activities of the Apr. 11–15 PACE spring session.
“There are two main unresolved issues. Keeping behind bars those imprisoned for their connection to the events of Mar. 1, 2008, and the lack of calling for accountability and proper handling related to the 10 victims continues to have supremacy in the political agenda and poisons the political environment. These issues are the main obstacles to normalizing the political arena and contain potential risks, in terms of having a negative impact on the coming 2012 parliamentary elections,” she said.
According to her, during the session, special attention was paid to imprisoned opposition figures Nikol Pashinyan and Sasun Mikaelyan. The PACE delegate noted that Pashinyan might get a conditional early release this summer, while a humanitarian gesture should be shown for Mikaelyan, considering his health condition.
Recall that mass protests against alleged electoral fraud, organized by supporters of unsuccessful presidential candidate, first president of the Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian, followed the presidential election of Feb. 19, 2008, in Armenia. On Mar. 1, 2008, national police and military forces, called in to disperse the crowds, used “excessive force and violence” which left 10 people dead and many more wounded.
Pashinyan was among several prominent opposition figures who went into hiding in March 2008 following a government crackdown on supporters of former president Levon Ter-Petrossian demanding a re-run of a disputed presidential election. Mass protests, organized by Ter-Petrossian supporters, followed the elections, and on Mar. 1, 2008, national police and military forces, called in to disperse the crowds, used “excessive force and violence” which left 10 people dead and many more wounded.
Pashinyan surrendered to the authorities in July 2009 and was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of stirring up “mass disturbances” in Yerevan. The oppositionist will serve only half of the prison sentence because of a general amnesty declared by the authorities in June 2009. Both he and Ter-Petrossian’s Armenian National Congress consider the case politically motivated.