ARMENIA'S RESPONSES TO PACE RESOLUTION 1609 ... SO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 YEREVAN 000511 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR A/S KRAMER AND DRL, DAS BRYZA AND EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM KJUS AM SUBJECT: ARMENIA'S RESPONSES TO PACE RESOLUTION 1609 ... SO FAR REF: A. YEREVAN 498 ¶B. YEREVAN 480 ¶C. YEREVAN 494 YEREVAN 00000511 001.2 OF 005 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Joseph Pennington, reasons 1. 4 (b, d) . -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The Co-Rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) visited Armenia June 16-17 to assess the political and human rights situation prior to PACE's scheduled June 23-27 session where Armenia's compliance with PACE Resolution 1609 will be considered. With the specter of having its PACE voting rights suspended absent progress on the requirements stipulated in the resolution, the authorities released a report June 16 that details what they claim is a significant, good faith effort to comply with the resolution. However, Armenia's embattled opposition forces contend that the efforts made so far have been cosmetic, and that the resolution's requirements have yet to be fulfilled. On June 19, in a letter to the PACE President, the co-rapporteurs who visited Yerevan June 16-17 said that Armenia,s efforts to comply with PACE Resolution 1609 are "insufficient," which likely means PACE will include Armenia on its agenda during its session next week in Strasbourg. END SUMMARY. -------------- PACE RESOLUTION 1609 -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In the wake of Armenia's significantly flawed and hotly disputed February presidential election, and its violent aftermath that claimed at least ten lives, PACE on April 17 adopted Resolution 1609 on the functioning of democratic institutions in Armenia. In the text, which is critical of Armenian authorities, PACE condemned the arrest and continuing detention of opposition supporters on politically motivated charges, and characterized the events as a crackdown on the opposition. In the key requirements of the resolution, PACE urged the authorities a) to guarantee the independence of Armenia's two media regulatory bodies -- the National TV and Radio Commission, and the Public TV and Radio Council -- from any political influence; b) assure the rights of the opposition, including freedom of assembly in both law and practice; and c) engage in a constructive dialogue with the opposition. Resolution 1609 asserted that a �A;number of conditions had be met in order for dialogue to take place, including a) undertaking an independent, transparent and credible inquiry into the events of March 1-2 and the circumstances that led to them; b) release of all political detainees; and c) amendments to the controversial Law on Rallies that was enacted during the post-election State of Emergency so that Armenia's law meets European Standards. ¶3. (SBU) 1609 also addressed the opposition, urging its constituents - mainly former President Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP) -- to recognize Armenia's March 8 Constitutional Court decision that confirmed the results of the February presidential election as announced by the country's Central Election Commission. However, the resolution issued the seemingly paradoxical caveat that recognition of the result should not oblige the opposition to agree with the merits of the court's decision, and that the opposition has the right to challenge the decision using all legal means available including the European Court of Human Rights. -------------- OPPOSITION'S STANCE -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Opposition groups have made extensive use of 1609 as a tool to voice their concerns. During LTP's May 2 Congress of opposition forces, he declared that the resolution should be taken as a basis for any possible dialogue, demanding that the authorities fulfill at least one of the preconditions set out in 1609, namely the release of all political detainees. Only then did he say he would consider a dialogue centered around 1609's remaining points. To date opposition groups have ignored PACE's call for recognition of the constitutional court decision, and continue to dispute the election result and the legitimacy of the new President. ¶5. (C) Prominent oppositionist Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian has repeatedly offered to mediate a dialogue YEREVAN 00000511 002.2 OF 005 between the authorities and opposition forces, but both sides continue to decline his offer. Hovannisian has publicly criticized the authorities' initial reform steps, characterizing them as cosmetic and an "imitation of democracy" (ref A),and told the Charge June 16 that he intends to voice this concern at the upcoming session in Strasbourg. (NOTE: Some observers speculate that by proposing the mediation, Hovannisian has effectively distanced himself from his pre-election endorsement of LTP. In recent conversations with Emboffs, he has indeed conveyed his frustration with both sides of the conflict. END NOTE.) ¶6. (U) On June 17, approximately 20 of Armenia's most active civil society organizations issued a statement in which they said the authorities' initial steps to respond to 1609 failed to fulfill the resolution's requirements. They elaborated by saying the current steps "carry an imitational nature in Armenia" and "bespeak the absence of political will to implement democratic reforms in the country." They also appealed to Hovannisian, one of Armenia's representatives to PACE, to convey their sentiments at the June 23-27 session. -------------- GOVERNMENT'S STANCE -------------- ¶7. (C) The authorities had undertaken efforts -- so far largely on paper -- to show themselves in the best possible light prior to the visit of the PACE co-rapporteurs. Representatives of the four parties in the current ruling coalition intend to make a point-by-point case before PACE that demonstrates the steps they have taken to fulfill 1609. At a June 9 meeting with Emboff, MP Armen Rustamian from the ruling coalition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) -- who also chairs the parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and is a member of Armenia's parliamentary delegation to PACE -- contended that the authorities had fulfilled most of the requirements set out in 1609, with the release of political detainees being the "lone" outstanding issue. -------------- --- PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BY-LAWS -------------- --- ¶8. (SBU) As part of of the authorities' efforts to meet 1609, the National Assembly approved in a first reading amendments to its own by-laws which will theoretically give the parliamentary opposition a greater voice. (NOTE: Out of the 131-member unicameral parliament, only seven MPs represent the sole oppositional Heritage Party. There are four other MPs, three of whom are currently in jail after having their parliamentary immunity removed for supporting LTP in the election, who are also de facto opposition. END NOTE.) The proposed changes provide the opposition a) at least one chairmanship of Armenia's recently expanded 12 standing committees, though not until after the next parliamentary elections in 2012; b) the right to have a proposed bill discussed out of turn in a hearing one time in each four-day long legislative session; c) and the right to apportioned time to ask questions to members of the Government. -------------- CREATION OF A PUBLIC CHAMBER -------------- ¶9. (SBU) President Sargsian assigned his senior-level national security advisor Garnik Isagulian to coordinate the formation of a Public Chamber, the mission of which is ostensibly to encourage public and political dialogue within Armenian society It will consider issues of national importance, and analyze laws and presidential decrees. A special commission was established on June 14 to form working groups that will bring together representatives of pro-governmental forces and opposition. The commission will also submit proposals on composition and regulations of the Public Chamber. Members of the special commission include people from academia, culture and sports, as well as four politicians. The four already-named politicians are loyal to the ruling Republican party, while the approximately 15 remaining representatives are respected figures, but are not completely independent from government influence. -------------- - AMENDMENTS TO THE CONTROVERSIAL LAW ON RALLIES -------------- - ¶10. (SBU) On June 11, the National Assembly passed amendments YEREVAN 00000511 003.2 OF 005 to the controversial Law on Rallies, which the President signed on June 16 but which has yet to be promulgated by official publication. The Law on Rallies was adopted in the waning days of the 20-day State of Emergency (SOE) decreed in March, as fatal clashes took place between security forces and opposition supporters. The amendments reflect most of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission recommendations, and are a substantive improvement over the SOE version, at least on paper. ¶11. (SBU) Despite the improved amendments, some of the newly proposed wording still provides the authorities broad discretion to outlaw rallies. The true test of the new law will be in its implementation. Based on initial signs, the authorities will interpret their powers very broadly, to the detriment of opposition political rights. Since the expiration of the SOE on March 21, the opposition has seen almost all of its 40-plus applications for demonstrations denied. In defiance of the authorities and their ban on rallies, LTP has vowed to hold a rally on June 20, with or without a permit (ref A) . -------------- POLITICAL DETAINEES -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Beginning in early June, more than 90 days after the arrests of approximately 150 opposition activists detained during and after the election, the authorities have begun to accelerate the release of dozens of these activists. Some have been released on bond, others have had charges dropped , and still others have been convicted but given suspended sentences. Within the past week, we have also seen the first four acquittals. However, new arrests and convictions of opposition supporters continue unabated, and the former Deputy Prosecutor General even saw his illegal weapons possession charge replaced June 16 by the more serious charge of "usurpation of power" that carries up to 15 years imprisonment. ¶13. (SBU) Opposition groups have been reporting widespread detentions around the country in the last ten days, which observers view as preemptive measures being taken to foil the highly publicized June 20 rally. During a June 19 press conference, Armenia's newly-appointed deputy police chief warned people against attending the unsanctioned rally, and said the police would use tough measures if necessary. According to LTP's office, on June 13 approximately 30 activists were detained in the regional city of Vardenis and driven nearly three hours to a police station in the capital of Yerevan, where they were held for a day and then released. Approximately 30 others were detained on June 15 in the city of Artashat, located just south of Yerevan. They were also released the same day. All were reportedly ordered by the police not to participate in the June 20 rally. ¶14. (SBU) The conflicting signals created by the recent releases on one hand, and the new arrests, charges, and detentions on the other, has prompted speculation that the spate of releases is a ploy by the authorities to burnish their image before the upcoming PACE session. In addition, there is also a dispute about whether or not the official numbers on released detainees are factual. According to information expeditiously posted on Armenia's Prosecutor General's website on June 13, criminal cases against 21 prominent opposition supporters were dismissed. However, on June 17, LTP's office told Emboffs that it could confirm only five of the releases. Although the Prosecutor,s office promised to provide us with the names of those released, they have yet to do so. ¶15. (SBU) To the best of our calculations, approximately 30 oppositionists -- some of whom are LTP's top lieutenants, including a former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prosecutor General -- are still being held in pre-trial detention by the authorities, and approximately 100 other oppositionists have been charged with crimes and either been handed suspended sentences, pled guilty, or are pending trial outside of jail. Four others have been acquitted. (NOTE: In Armenia the courts almost invariably rule in the prosecution's favor. END NOTE.) Authorities also continue to hold Anush Ghavalian, a single mother waitress at a pizza restaurant owned by the fugitive MP Khachatur Sukiasian (ref B),on highly questionable tax-evasion charges. Sukiasian openly supported LTP during the election campaign and during the ten days of post-election protests staged by LTP in Yerevan's Freedom Square. Ghavalian's family publicly stated that her pre-trial detention has been extended four times already because she YEREVAN 00000511 004.2 OF 005 refuses to provide false testimony that would incriminate her fugitive employer. ¶16. (SBU) In addition to the detainees' numbers game, the administration of justice has been arbitrary and derelict in many of the ongoing court cases, with convictions being handed out to defendants in cases where evidence of wrongdoing was thoroughly refuted. In one case where three LTP proxies were recently tried and convicted for interfering with the work of an election commission, all eight prosecution witnesses who testified -- including several members of the election commission -- said that they had not written their own statements, and that investigators had written them instead. The court disregarded the witnesses' assertion about their statements, found all three defendants guilty as charged, and meted out sentences ranging up to three years imprisonment. One of these was Petros Makeyan, a prominent opposition leader and Chairperson of the Democratic Motherland Party. (COMMENT: The trumped-up charge of interfering with the work of an election commission is "code" for LTP election-day polling station proxies who were trying to prevent election-related abuses by supporters of Serzh Sargsian. In fact, the overwhelming majority of election-related abuses were committed by supporters of Serzh Sargsian, and only one of them has been charged. END COMMENT.) -------------- --- ADDRESSING THE ANTI-OPPOSITION BIAS OF PUBLIC TV -------------- --- ¶17. (SBU) Despite resolution 1609' s call on the authorities to reform the composition of the two TV and Radio regulatory agencies -- the National TV and Radio Commission and the Public TV and Radio Council --to make them more independent, no such changes have been made. These two agencies have long been connected with behind-the-scenes censoring and controlling of TV and radio content that does not conform with the official line. The National Assembly has held a hearing on the topic, where it formed a working group to develop amendments to the Law on TV and Radio. But while Armenia's approximately 20 media outlets have recently begun to provide more air time to the opposition, news coverage on public TV - Armenia's most watched channel and main source of official news -- remains strongly biased in favor of the authorities. Media observers have told Emboffs that the recent liberalization is meant to mollify international criticism before the PACE session (ref C). -------------- VISIT OF PACE RAPPORTEURS -------------- ¶18. (C) At the end of their two-day fact-finding mission on June 17, one of the PACE co-rapporteurs briefed diplomatic missions in Armenia. Georges Colombier, a French MP, said he had nothing positive to report from his meetings with officials, whose responses he had found "distressing." He confided that a decision has yet to be made on suspending Armenia's voting rights at PACE, but did not conceal the fact that the authorities had not made a strong case to the rapporteurs. European Ambassadors agreed with the U.S. Embassy representative that no progress has been made on political issues since March 1. But they also agreed that it was wise to give the authorities three more months, until September, before making a final decision. (NOTE: Should the PACE co-rapporteurs report that Armenia has made insufficient progress in fulfilling 1609's requirements, possible sanctions could include temporary or long-term suspension of Armenia's voting rights at PACE, or adoption of a new resolution with a new monitoring deadline. END NOTE.) -------------- PACE Rapporteurs: GOAM Efforts "Insufficient" -------------- ¶19. (SBU) On June 19, PACE issued a press release in which the head of PACE's Monitoring Committee stated that an urgent debate on Armenia at the plenary session of PACE is warranted. The finding was based on a letter sent to the PACE President by the co-rapporteurs after their return from Armenia, in which they found that Armenia,s efforts to comply with PACE Resolution 1609 have been "insufficient." In practical terms, this will mean that PACE will include Armenia on its agenda during its session next week in Strasbourg. We understand Armenia is likely to be discussed on June 25. Theoretically, the discussion could lead to a decision to suspend Armenia,s voting rights in PACE. YEREVAN 00000511 005.2 OF 005 -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶19. (C) While there have been some modest steps taken by the authorities, virtually none of them have had much positive impact on the ground. The major problem is that the initiatives lack the depth, credibility, and spirit of compromise that are required to address the roots of Armenia's political crisis. That the various forms of politically-motivated persecution -- arrests, detentions, unfounded convictions with steep sentencing -- continue unabated does not help matters. Until the authorities provide some real, tangible space to the opposition, it is difficult to see how the current situation will improve. We are pleased to see that our European/PACE colleagues now share the same assessment. END COMMENT. PENNINGTON