On April 28 at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Resolution on honoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia was passed, focusing on the inner political situation in the country. The document says that the actions of Armenian authorities with regard to the protest actions held by opposition run contrary to the PACE Resolution on Armenia, adopted on January 27, 2004 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, January 23-29, 2004). Among other issues the PACE is concerned over the freedom of expression issues. “Freedom of expression continues to be seriously curtailed and several acts of violence against journalists, which took place during the recent events, were carried out or were allowed to happen by the police and security forces”, the Resolution point out.
The PACE also called on Armenian authorities to immediately investigate – in a transparent and credible manner – the recent incidents and inform the Assembly of their findings, as well as “create fair conditions for the normal functioning of the media, notably as regards the issuing of broadcasting licenses to television companies, particularly to television channel ‘A1+’”.
The Resolution notes that if by the September session of PACE no progress in implementing the recommendations is achieved, the Assembly “resolves to reconsider the credentials of the Armenian delegation”.
