WHO WILL CONDUCT “INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION?”

The working group formed by the RA President’s initiatives should examine both the proposals of the PACE 1609 resolution and coordinate those proposals’ implementation. Last Sunday the coalition made the recurrent announcement where it considered the activities of the working group very important. There was a sentence in the announcement which can be interpreted in different ways: “The political coalition expects from the working group certain steps for the implementation of the resolution’s proposals and independent investigation of the post-electoral developments.”

“Aravot” tried to find out from ARF GB representative, member of the working group Armen Rustamyan whether the working group has a certain status, if no, how it will implement the independent investigation of the post electoral developments. In Mr. Rustamyan’s opinion “it considers a civil control over the whole process which happened after March 1, there have been arrests, imprisonments, trials, a civil control should be conducted over all of that first of all, and then the main problems regarding March 1 should be examined. Let’s remember that it is noted in the PACE resolution that the activities of both parties should be examined: demonstrators and police. A relevant examination should be conducted on this case and a conclusion should be made. The format of it is being discussed nowadays.”

Armen Rustamyan thinks that they, with the help of control, should be able to achieve the fact that “the public consciousness separate criminal and political parts of that case”. In answer to our observation that it is obvious for the public that the authorities are guilty for March 1 but the authorities have formed a working group which will try to examine the March 1 events, or implementation of 1609 resolution, is there a corresponding confidence towards the authorities, Mr. Rustamyan said that people who are highly confidential should be engaged in the investigation. They will be so-called expert-Methodists who should examine the legitimacy of the whole process. The CE has determined “political prisoners” expression and there are certain criteria on that connection. The process which the CE may do by sending its reporters to Armenia, we can do ourselves, not waiting for them. Certainly this does not exclude that CE can conduct its own investigation since the goal is the same.”