“Haykakan Zhamanak” accuses Armenian officials and Justice Minister Gevorg Danielian in particular of distorting statements made in Yerevan by Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner. The paper says Hammarberg indirectly complained about that during his Tuesday news conference. It quotes him as saying that “a considerable part of comments attributed to him are not correct.”
“Hraparak” likewise notes that Hammarberg “spoke out very rudely” against official press releases about his Yerevan meetings. “This means that many of our government agencies have a tendency to lie and are totally shameless, something which the European guest got to know,” comments the paper. It also says Hammarberg made clear that he will not take government assurances at face value. The paper sums up Hammarberg’s message to the authorities in Yerevan as follows, “If you want to rectify the situation, satisfy the demands of the European structures. Or else, sanctions will be inevitable.”
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” comments sardonically on pro-government parliamentarians’ meetings with their imprisoned opposition colleagues which have taken place as part of an ongoing parliamentary investigation into the March 1 clashes in Yerevan.
“Zhamanak Yerevan” reports that prosecutors have sent to court their criminal case against Smbat Ayvazian, a senior member of the opposition Hanrapetutyun party. “Ayvazian is one of the first political prisoners in the March 1 case,” says the opposition paper. “He was arrested on February 24, the day when the National Security Service opened the main criminal case relating to the known events and when searches were conducted in the homes of hundreds of supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosian on a single night.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” dismisses the collection of signatures in support of opposition calls for former President Robert Kocharian to be tried in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his handling of Armenia’s post-election crisis. The pro-Kocharian paper says David Shahnazarian, a Ter-Petrosian associate behind the initiative, lacks any evidence to back up the petition. “It is not yet clear if the former president intends to appeal to the Office of the Prosecutor-General to open a slander case against David Shahnazarian,” it says.
(Hrach Melkumian)
“Hraparak” likewise notes that Hammarberg “spoke out very rudely” against official press releases about his Yerevan meetings. “This means that many of our government agencies have a tendency to lie and are totally shameless, something which the European guest got to know,” comments the paper. It also says Hammarberg made clear that he will not take government assurances at face value. The paper sums up Hammarberg’s message to the authorities in Yerevan as follows, “If you want to rectify the situation, satisfy the demands of the European structures. Or else, sanctions will be inevitable.”
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” comments sardonically on pro-government parliamentarians’ meetings with their imprisoned opposition colleagues which have taken place as part of an ongoing parliamentary investigation into the March 1 clashes in Yerevan.
“Zhamanak Yerevan” reports that prosecutors have sent to court their criminal case against Smbat Ayvazian, a senior member of the opposition Hanrapetutyun party. “Ayvazian is one of the first political prisoners in the March 1 case,” says the opposition paper. “He was arrested on February 24, the day when the National Security Service opened the main criminal case relating to the known events and when searches were conducted in the homes of hundreds of supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosian on a single night.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” dismisses the collection of signatures in support of opposition calls for former President Robert Kocharian to be tried in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his handling of Armenia’s post-election crisis. The pro-Kocharian paper says David Shahnazarian, a Ter-Petrosian associate behind the initiative, lacks any evidence to back up the petition. “It is not yet clear if the former president intends to appeal to the Office of the Prosecutor-General to open a slander case against David Shahnazarian,” it says.
(Hrach Melkumian)