Arthur Sakunts, the Head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office highlighted during yesterday’s discussion with the members of the Venice Commission on Constitutional amendments that the murder of the 10 victims of March 1 so far are not disclosed. “There is no confidence in this government. Are you working as an expert for the funeral text or an expert in solving the problems? The view of an autocratic country exists in our reality. I understand that you are lawyers but cannot avoid seeing the sub-context that exists in the draft text of the Constitution.” Christoph Grabenwarter, a member of the Venice Commission, replied to him that the Venice Commission cannot give confidence to you, it can only promote the discussion and the participants of the discussion should accept it in good faith. “We are people like you that are involved in the process of the Constitutional amendments in support to your country. We are legal advisers rather than political figures.”
In an interview with Aravot.am, Arthur Sakunts, sharing his impressions about the meeting, first of all, complained about the organizers who had told him about the discussion the previous evening. “I was told that it is a meeting with the representatives of civil society. But when I came, I saw that the representatives of the factions are sitting in the first row. They had their own political interests unlike the representatives of the civil society, whose motives were entirely different. When the Venice Commission representative announced that now they are going to listen to the representatives of the civil society, the PAP representative asked for a floor, which caused a chaos about the opinions and the atmosphere.”
According to Sakunts, the meeting was important because the Venice Commission was to get opinions not only from Serzh Sargsyan and the members of the Commission on Constitutional amendments, but also from the representatives of the society. “In this respect, it was important for them to receive information first-hand. They were possibly trying to stay refrained; I understand that their mandate does not allow to be more proactive in their approaches and stances in terms of giving estimates. It is truly an organization giving merely legal expertise conclusion. It was important for them to understand the situation under which these processes are going on. I did not expect them to respond to the question raised by me, it was important that they have heard it.” Sakunts believes that there would be more meetings with the Commission members and they would have the opportunity to express their full view.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
