Armenian National Platform Demands Immediate Release of “Founding Parliament” Members

15 April 2015

The Armenian National Platform (NP) of the EaP CSF condemns the new wave of lawless political persecution by the government targeting the “Founding Parliament” civic movement. The NP assesses the actions of the Armenian Investigation Committee and National Security Service as a flagrant violation of human rights and calls on Armenian authorities to immediately release all the arrested members of the Founding Parliament, bringing to justice those responsible for illegitimate arrests.

While conducting peaceful and lawful activities, the members of the movement became the target of systematic attacks by the police and criminal figures. The charges against opposition activists were fabricated and their presumption of innocence, as well as the right of freedom of assembly, was violated.

Recent report, prepared by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly - Vanadzor (Armenia), provides the overview of the existing gaps in democratic oversight of the accountability, transparency and efficiency of the law enforcement bodies. The report highlights the fact that controversial criminal cases usually do not undergo comprehensive investigation. Moreover, no agency responsible for an investigation activities is currently directly accountable to the representative body, i.e. the National Assembly, and almost no steps have been taken to introduce effective mechanisms of monitoring for tax and customs investigative bodies.

The democratic oversight of the law enforcement authorities is particularly obstructed by the unwillingness and denial policy of these agencies, as well as overall lack of accountability culture.

Statement of EaP CSF Armenian National Platform

EaP CSF Working Group 1: Report on “Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms within the activities of law enforcement bodies in Armenia”

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