Epress.am News from Armenia
A proposed bill on emergency rule was again discussed in the Armenian parliament today. Tomorrow, Mar. 1, the bill will be put to a vote.
Recall, the bill allows the president to enlist the help of Armenia’s Armed Forces to restore order during a state of emergency if police and national security forces are unable to cope with the situation. As reported earlier by RFE/RL’s Armenian service, “the bill stipulates that the president of the republic can call a state of emergency in case of an ‘immediate danger to constitutional order,’ including attempts to forcibly seize power, terrorism and ‘mass disturbances’ […] In that case, military personnel would be allowed to use riot equipment and live ammunition in accordance with an Armenian law on the police.”
Heritage Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D) continue to oppose the bill and would like to see it undergone a second round of amendments. The aspect of the bill that allows the involvement of the army during a state of emergency is the part that concerns these deputies the most.
As Heritage Party MP Armen Martirosyan puts it, if the army comes wearing beautiful tailcoats affixed with butterflies, all the same, it’s unacceptable. This bill itself violates constitutional order, he added.
“And who said that [violating] constitutional order means only to forcibly seize power. After all, doesn’t constitutional order also assume many other norms, one of which is the freedom of assembly, the right to life?” he asked.
According to the opposition lawmaker, no one has the right to restrict peaceful mass protests.
“If there are provocateurs, then National Security Service and police officials have to immediately neutralize those provocateurs and remove them from the place where a peaceful demonstration is held. And not declare a state of emergency using them as the excuse, and on top of that, bring in the troops, which we witnessed on Mar. 1, 2008,” he said.
In the opinion of ARF-D deputy Artsvik Minasyan, “this isn’t a regime of law; it’s a regime of intimidation.”
“This bill should not be adopted as it stands and must be amended. Let me remind you that the parliamentary ad-hoc commission investigating the events of Mar. 1–2 particularly addressed the need to adopt this law. Not wanting to point out the symbolism in all this, I think, that which we’ll be doing on Mar. 1 [i.e. the vote tomorrow] we should do in accordance with the welfare of our state, our people and the pursuit of a more democratic Armenia,” he said.
RA Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasyan, listening to the speeches and concerns of lawmakers, announced that he is taking a pledge and assuring them that the government has no machinations tied with the adoption of this law.