 armenia pace monitoring committee remains concerned about the limited progress with regard to the implementation of resolutions 1609 and 1620 strasbourg 2102008 the monitoring committee of the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe pace has received the report from the human rights commissioner regarding his visit to yerevan from 13 to 15 july 2008 and is extremely alarmed about its findings and conclusions that show that only limited progress has been achieved regarding key demands of the assembly the committee therefore invited the human rights commissioner to return to yerevan and report back to the committee at its meeting in paris on 17 december 2008 while noting the positive steps made regarding establishment of an independent and credible inquiry the monitoring committee remains extremely concerned regarding persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events on 1 and 2 march 2008 in resolution 1620 2008 the assembly made it clear that the cases still under investigation should be closed or promptly brought before the courts a verdict based solely on police testimony without corroborating evidence cannot be acceptable and that the cases under articles 300 and 225 of the criminal code should be dropped unless there is strong evidence that the accused have personally committed acts of violence or ordered abetted or assisted to commit them in that respect the committee took note that while the investigations regarding persons in preventive detention have now closed the cases against seven all charged under articles 300 and 225 have not yet been brought before the courts as a result of the excessive length of the investigation in addition the committee is deeply concerned that the investigations regarding the responsibility for the ten deaths on 1 and 2 march have not yet been or are not yet on the point of being concluded serious questions remain regarding the nature of the charges brought against people arrested in relation to the events on 1 and 2 march as well as regarding the court proceedings of several cases including with regard to the principle of a fair trial in addition and contrary to assembly demands 19 persons have been convicted on the basis of police testimony only the committee is therefore seriously concerned that people may have been detained and even convicted based on political beliefs and nonviolent activities which is unacceptable to the assembly the committee regrets that the armenian authorities did not consider the possibility of amnesty pardons or any other legal means available to them to resolve the situation regarding persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events on 1 and 2 march 2008 it strongly urges the authorities to consider such options which would result in major progress towards meeting the requirements of the assembly the committee noted the positive steps regarding the establishment of an independent and credible inquiry as outlined in the report by the commissioner the committee expresses its full support for the proposals made by the commissioner it welcomes the constructive dialogue between the armenian authorities and commissioner on this issue and hopes that the remaining outstanding issues will be resolved soon in order for the expert group to start and finalise its work as soon as possible the committee is of the view that armenia is on a threshold regarding the implementation of resolutions 1609 2008 and 1620 2008 now is the time for the armenian authorities to show the political will to resolve this problem the committee places its full trust in and gives its full support for the work of the human rights commissioner in this respect therefore it would invite the commissioner to make a followup visit to yerevan and to report back to the committee at its meeting on 17 december 2008 on the progress made regarding the independent and credible inquiry and release of persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events on 1 and 2 march in december on the basis of that report the committee will make its decision on the actions and possible sanctions it will recommend to the plenary of the assembly in january 2009 parliamentary assembly communication unit tel 33 3 88 41 31 93 fax 33 3 90 21 41 34 pacecom coeint wwwcoeint press 