Tweet
OSCE WATCHDOG CRITICIZES ARMENIAN OPPOSITION TRIALS
Emil Danielyan, Karine Kalantarian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/artic le/1977922.html
08.03.2010
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Monday
criticized trials of Armenian opposition members arrested following
the 2008 presidential election, saying that at least some of them
were not fair and exposed "shortcomings" in Armenia's judicial system.
In a long-anticipated report, the OSCE's Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) questioned the impartiality
of judges that ruled on the highly controversial cases. It said they
routinely sanctioned pre-trial detentions, ignored torture claims made
by defendants and readily accepted incriminating police testimonies
at face value.
The Warsaw-based watchdog was at the same time careful not to hold
the Armenian government directly responsible for that. "Recognizing
that the trials have taken place amid high public tension and received
special public attention, the Armenian authorities could have invested
more efforts to ensure their fair and impartial adjudication," it
concluded cautiously.
The ODIHR noted that some of the jailed oppositionists and their
supporters "often did not show respect for the judges and other
participants of the proceedings." "These challenging circumstances
made the work of courts extraordinarily difficult and at the same
time raised the bar for their professional performance to the highest
levels," reads its report.
The 114-page report is based on the monitoring of 93 criminal cases
that was conducted by ODIHR representatives from April 2008 through
July 2009. The ODIHR said that its draft version was submitted to the
Armenian authorities last November and that the latter responded to
it with written comments on February 4.
The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) and newspapers
supporting it have for months speculated that the OSCE is deliberately
delaying the report to avoid undercutting President Serzh Sarkisian
at a delicate time in his Western-backed efforts to make peace with
Azerbaijan and Turkey.
"We consider this report to have been overdue, overdue for political
reasons," Levon Zurabian, the HAK's central office coordinator,
told RFE/RL on Monday. "Apparently, they gave the authorities time
to make important decisions on international issues," he said.
Armenia -- Trial of former Foreign Minister Aleksandr Arzumanian,
Yerevan, 17Jun2009"The delay of this report has enabled the authorities
to perpetrate repressions against political prisoners with greater
impunity," charged Zurabian. "And I think that in this sense, the
OSCE has its share of responsibility for the existence of political
prisoners in Armenia."
HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosian and his associates had similarly
accused the OSCE-led monitors of emboldening the authorities to use
deadly force against opposition protesters in March 2008 with their
mostly positive assessment of the election conduct. The U.S. State
Department subsequently distanced itself from that verdict, describing
the presidential ballot as "significantly flawed."
More than 120 Ter-Petrosian supporters were arrested in the wake of
the vote on charges mainly stemming from the March 2008 deadly clashes
between protesters and security forces. Most of them were tried and
given prison sentences of up to eight years. The vast majority of
those individuals were set free under a general amnesty declared by
the authorities in June last year.
The ODIHR report deplores the fact that in virtually all cases Armenian
courts allowed law-enforcement bodies to keep arrested opposition
leaders and supporters in pre-trial detention. "Police arrests were
often improperly and inaccurately documented, creating doubts about
the legality of arrests and detention in police custody," it says.
The report is equally critical of some the ensuing trials condemned
by the Armenian opposition as a travesty of justice. "Judges at times
tended to treat the parties unequally, displaying openly friendly
attitudes towards the prosecution and openly hostile attitudes towards
the defense," it says. "In some trials, systematic denial of defense
motions to introduce and/or examine additional evidence seriously
undermined the possibility to present the case for the defense."
The ODIHR also faulted Armenian courts for routinely discarding
torture allegations made by defendants and key witnesses. "Apart from
very few exceptions, both prosecutors and judges remained silent in
circumstances in which national legislation and international law
required them to react," it said, adding: "Similarly, judges relied
on witness statements which were allegedly obtained under duress."
Many of the jailed oppositionists were convicted on the basis of
police testimony, a practice repeatedly condemned by the Council
of Europe and mentioned in the ODIHR report. "In numerous cases,
statements of police witnesses were the primary basis for convictions,
occasionally despite procedural violations, contradictions and a lack
of corroborating evidence," says the report.
The Armenian courts rarely hand down rulings going against the wishes
of the government and law-enforcement agencies. The opposition HAK
and local human rights believe their handling of the cases related
to the post-election unrest followed strict government orders.
The ODIHR clearly did not endorse that view, however. It recommended
instead "additional training of judges" and a further reform of
Armenia's criminal justice system that would limit the use of pre-trial
detention and uphold the presumption of innocence among other things.
Armenia -- Opposition members and supporters scuffle with police
outside a Yerevan court on January 19, 2010."We hope that this report
can give new impetus to the ongoing efforts by the Armenian authorities
to reform the country's justice system in line with international
standards and OSCE commitments," the ODIHR director, Janez Lenarcic,
said in a statement.
"We are encouraged by the open attitude we have encountered during
the trial monitoring project and value the authorities' input in the
process of preparing the final report. It appears that some steps
are already being taken to address the identified shortcomings,"
added Lenarcic.
According to Zurabian, the HAK will look into the ODIHR report and
come up with a detailed evaluation of its conclusions "later on." But
he said even a quick look at the document shows that "justice was
not applied to the political prisoners."
Emil Danielyan, Karine Kalantarian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/artic le/1977922.html
08.03.2010
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Monday
criticized trials of Armenian opposition members arrested following
the 2008 presidential election, saying that at least some of them
were not fair and exposed "shortcomings" in Armenia's judicial system.
In a long-anticipated report, the OSCE's Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) questioned the impartiality
of judges that ruled on the highly controversial cases. It said they
routinely sanctioned pre-trial detentions, ignored torture claims made
by defendants and readily accepted incriminating police testimonies
at face value.
The Warsaw-based watchdog was at the same time careful not to hold
the Armenian government directly responsible for that. "Recognizing
that the trials have taken place amid high public tension and received
special public attention, the Armenian authorities could have invested
more efforts to ensure their fair and impartial adjudication," it
concluded cautiously.
The ODIHR noted that some of the jailed oppositionists and their
supporters "often did not show respect for the judges and other
participants of the proceedings." "These challenging circumstances
made the work of courts extraordinarily difficult and at the same
time raised the bar for their professional performance to the highest
levels," reads its report.
The 114-page report is based on the monitoring of 93 criminal cases
that was conducted by ODIHR representatives from April 2008 through
July 2009. The ODIHR said that its draft version was submitted to the
Armenian authorities last November and that the latter responded to
it with written comments on February 4.
The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) and newspapers
supporting it have for months speculated that the OSCE is deliberately
delaying the report to avoid undercutting President Serzh Sarkisian
at a delicate time in his Western-backed efforts to make peace with
Azerbaijan and Turkey.
"We consider this report to have been overdue, overdue for political
reasons," Levon Zurabian, the HAK's central office coordinator,
told RFE/RL on Monday. "Apparently, they gave the authorities time
to make important decisions on international issues," he said.
Armenia -- Trial of former Foreign Minister Aleksandr Arzumanian,
Yerevan, 17Jun2009"The delay of this report has enabled the authorities
to perpetrate repressions against political prisoners with greater
impunity," charged Zurabian. "And I think that in this sense, the
OSCE has its share of responsibility for the existence of political
prisoners in Armenia."
HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosian and his associates had similarly
accused the OSCE-led monitors of emboldening the authorities to use
deadly force against opposition protesters in March 2008 with their
mostly positive assessment of the election conduct. The U.S. State
Department subsequently distanced itself from that verdict, describing
the presidential ballot as "significantly flawed."
More than 120 Ter-Petrosian supporters were arrested in the wake of
the vote on charges mainly stemming from the March 2008 deadly clashes
between protesters and security forces. Most of them were tried and
given prison sentences of up to eight years. The vast majority of
those individuals were set free under a general amnesty declared by
the authorities in June last year.
The ODIHR report deplores the fact that in virtually all cases Armenian
courts allowed law-enforcement bodies to keep arrested opposition
leaders and supporters in pre-trial detention. "Police arrests were
often improperly and inaccurately documented, creating doubts about
the legality of arrests and detention in police custody," it says.
The report is equally critical of some the ensuing trials condemned
by the Armenian opposition as a travesty of justice. "Judges at times
tended to treat the parties unequally, displaying openly friendly
attitudes towards the prosecution and openly hostile attitudes towards
the defense," it says. "In some trials, systematic denial of defense
motions to introduce and/or examine additional evidence seriously
undermined the possibility to present the case for the defense."
The ODIHR also faulted Armenian courts for routinely discarding
torture allegations made by defendants and key witnesses. "Apart from
very few exceptions, both prosecutors and judges remained silent in
circumstances in which national legislation and international law
required them to react," it said, adding: "Similarly, judges relied
on witness statements which were allegedly obtained under duress."
Many of the jailed oppositionists were convicted on the basis of
police testimony, a practice repeatedly condemned by the Council
of Europe and mentioned in the ODIHR report. "In numerous cases,
statements of police witnesses were the primary basis for convictions,
occasionally despite procedural violations, contradictions and a lack
of corroborating evidence," says the report.
The Armenian courts rarely hand down rulings going against the wishes
of the government and law-enforcement agencies. The opposition HAK
and local human rights believe their handling of the cases related
to the post-election unrest followed strict government orders.
The ODIHR clearly did not endorse that view, however. It recommended
instead "additional training of judges" and a further reform of
Armenia's criminal justice system that would limit the use of pre-trial
detention and uphold the presumption of innocence among other things.
Armenia -- Opposition members and supporters scuffle with police
outside a Yerevan court on January 19, 2010."We hope that this report
can give new impetus to the ongoing efforts by the Armenian authorities
to reform the country's justice system in line with international
standards and OSCE commitments," the ODIHR director, Janez Lenarcic,
said in a statement.
"We are encouraged by the open attitude we have encountered during
the trial monitoring project and value the authorities' input in the
process of preparing the final report. It appears that some steps
are already being taken to address the identified shortcomings,"
added Lenarcic.
According to Zurabian, the HAK will look into the ODIHR report and
come up with a detailed evaluation of its conclusions "later on." But
he said even a quick look at the document shows that "justice was
not applied to the political prisoners."