DPA/Inf(2008)30
DPA/Inf(2008)30
12 November 2008
With the compliments of the Director General of Democracy of Political Affairs
Avec les compliments du Directeur Général de la Démocratie et des Affaires Politiques
INFORMATION NOTE
FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES
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NOTE D'INFORMATION
A L'ATTENTION DES DELEGUES DES MINISTRES
RE: Report from the Council of Europe Field Offices and other Structures* /
October 2008
Rapport des Bureaux et autres structures du Conseil de l’Europe sur le terrain* / octobre2008
Please find attached the Report from the Council of Europe Field Offices and other Structures for October 2008.
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Veuillez trouver ci-joint le rapport des Bureaux et autres structures du Conseil de l’Europe sur le terrain pour octobre 2008.
Ce document n’existe qu’en anglais
* For a more complete list of activities, see the Council of Europe activities database (CEAD) – http://dsp.coe.int/CEAD / Pour une liste plus complète des activités, voir la base de données des activités du Conseil de l’Europe (CEAD) – http://dsp.coe.int/CEAD
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DPA/Inf(2008)30
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DPA/Inf(2008)30
Yerevan
1. Political and legislative developments
Discussions on forming a fact-finding expert group dominated public debates. On 23 October, President Sargsyan signed an order establishing a 5-member group with the following composition: two representatives from the ruling coalition; one from the opposition movement lead by Levon Ter-Petrosyan; one from Heritage party (the only opposition force in parliament) and one expert nominated by the Ombudsman. The group was given the authority to collect information about the 1-2 March events, and report the findings to the ad hoc parliamentary inquiry committee. The Ombudsman welcomed the decision and appointed his Chief of Staff, Mr Vahe Stepanian (Minister during Ter-Petrosyan’s Presidency), as his representative. The appointment from the coalition’s side is still outstanding.
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s Armenian National Congress and the Heritage Party issued a joint statement in which they agreed to participate in such a group. They appointed as their representatives Mr Andranik Kocharyan (Deputy Interior Minister and Deputy Defence Minister during Ter-Petrosyan’s government) and lawyer Ms Seda Safaryan respectively. The joint statement claims however that the legal base of the Presidential Order contradicts the Constitution. The statement further criticises the “in camera” working method of the group, the fact that international experts are not involved in the group as “full members” and the group’s subordination to the parliamentary ad hoc committee, with limited powers to interrogate retired public officials who occupied posts during March events. The statement demands to address these issues within one month, and warns to reconsider further participation if at least the demand to involve international experts is not met.
Due to the formation of the expert group, the National Assembly has extended the mandate of its ad hoc inquiry committee until 25 February; it has also been decided that the committee will not issue an interim report.
The last opposition rally held on 17 October was authorised, but was followed by a march which originally had been banned by city authorities. In his speech at the rally opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan announced a temporary (2-3 months) halt of street protests, allegedly in order not to jeopardise any progress concerning the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which, according to him, has entered a phase of decisive talks.
With regard to persons arrested in connection with the 1-2 March events: the Court extended for two months the pre-trial detention periods of Grigor Voskerchyan (former Mayor of Abovian town), and MPs Miasnik Malkhasyan and Hakob Hakobyan. On 23 October, another detainee, Mushegh Saghatelyan (former chief of country’s prisons),received a five-year prison sentence.
The Constitutional Court ruled on 14 October that Article 301 of the Criminal Code (calls to usurp public power and undermine the constitutional order) is in line with the Constitution. The application to consider the constitutionality of Art 301 had been launched by Mr Vardan Malkhasyan, who received a two-year prison sentence on 6 August 2007 under the same article.
A report issued by Reporters without Borders marked the decrease in media freedom, largely due to the temporary government ban on independent news after the March events.
Litigation over premises occupied by the opposition Haikakan Zhamanak Daily finished on 17 October with a court ruling in favour of Yerevan’s Kentron (Centre) municipality which had earlier decided to terminate the lease of the premises to Haikakan Zhamanak.
2. Council of Europe action
The 17 and 18 October session of the Venice Commission came up with a negative opinion on draft amendments to the Law on Human Rights Defender proposed by the government according to which the Ombudsman’s staff would have been deprived of immunity.
3. Co-operation and Co-ordination with Partner Organisations
The Yerevan Office (SRSG) participated in a Conference organised by a local NGO (sponsored by EU, CoE, OSCE, and DFID) with the title “Two Years of European Neighbourhood Policy: Progress, Challenges and the Future”. The welcoming remarks and the key note speech at the conference tried to show the clear link of the CoE’s work with the ENP.
4. Activities of the Information Office
Preparation and translation of four press releases for the website and dissemination. Translation and summarising of the articles from the print press for the daily news digest on the website under http://www.coe.am/digests.php?date=26-04-2008 . Weekly monitoring on the Council of Europe visibility in the Armenian media for the Directorate of Communication. In October, the Armenian print media made around 60 references to the CoE.
Translation of Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.
Translation of the Fact Sheet on Death Penalty and publication of ‘Death is not Justice’ leaflet.
On 10 October, the Helsinki Committee of Armenia organised a conference “Europe/World Day against the Death Penalty: The 5th Anniversary of the Ratification of the Protocol No. 6 the ECHR by Armenia”. The IOCE Director made a speech on CoE role in abolition of the death penalty. The CoE thematic TV spot was shown at the event. The conference was assisted by the IOCE and financed by the European Union.
Continuation of a series of lectures for Yerevan State University Journalism Department. The project is organised by CoE, OSCE, EC, UN and NATO information Office. Similar lectures were initiated for the Sociology Department.
§ Statistics of the office:
a) general information/library – 150 phone inquiries
b) ECtHR information – 3 persons
c) Website: www.coe.am
- Total Hits: 49310/ Average Hits per Day: 1591/ Average Visitor per Day: 55
- Total Visitors: 1712
Ms Silvia ZEHE
Special Representative of the SG
Tel: +374 10 54 63 22 - Fax: +374 10 54 63 19
E-mail:
Baku
1. Political and legislative developments
Azerbaijan held its Presidential Elections on 15 October. The official voter turn-out, as registered by the Central Election Commission (CEC), was 75,65 %, resulting in the re-election of the incumbent, President Ilham Aliyev, from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party (YAP), for a second term with 88,73 % of votes cast. None of the other six registered candidates managed to pass the threshold of 3 %, with the final results being: Igbal Agazadeh from Umid (Hope) Party: 2,86 %; Fazil Mustafayev (Gazanfaroglu) from Great Establishment Party: 2,47 %; Gudrat Hasanguliyev from United Azerbaijan Popular Front Party: 2,28 %; Gulamhuseyn Alibayli, independent: 2,23 %; Fuad Aliyev from Azerbaijan Liberal Democratic Party: 0,78 %; Hafiz Hajiyev from Muasir (Modern) Musavat Party: 0,65 %. The CEC invalidated the results of eight polling stations (out of 5359). The Constitutional Court ratified these results on 22 October and the inauguration ceremony of President Aliyev took place on 24 October.
The President proceeded with forming the new Government. Artur Rasizade was re-appointed as Prime Minister and confirmed by Parliament. The appointment of the Deputy Prime Ministers and the Ministers was decreed on 31 October, resulting in the exact same composition as before the elections, with the exception of the Minister of Economic Development (MED). The former MED, Heydar Babayev, was replaced by Shahin Mustafayev who previously held prominent positions in the Ministry of Taxes and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR).
A 25-member delegation from PACE observed the election, alongside seven MPs from the European Parliament (EP) and the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission composed of almost 400 long- and short-term observers. Their joint initial statement on the elections was issued on 16 October and noted that the elections marked considerable progress but did not meet all of the country’s international commitments. Further, “the election was conducted in a peaceful manner, but was characterised by a lack of robust competition and vibrant political discourse facilitated by the media, and thus did not reflect all principles of a meaningful and pluralistic democratic election. Regrettably, some opposition parties boycotted the election, citing longstanding obstacles. This further limited the scope for meaningful choice for the electorate.” The Swedish Chair of the CoE Committee of Ministers also issued a statement on 17 October.
The boycotting opposition co-operation centre (uniting the movements of Isa Gambar from Musavat Party, Eldar Namazov from the Public Forum “For the Sake of Azerbaijan” and the “Azadlig” trio bloc of Ali Kerimli from Popular Front Party, Lala Shovket from the National Unity Movement and Ali Aliyev from the Citizen and Development Party) announced their intention to hold public rallies on 28 September and 18 October. However, as the executive authorities did not sanction the requested places, the rallies did not take place and the opposition was quoted as wanting to appeal these decisions to court.
On the weekend of 18-19 October, one of the imprisoned journalists (Mirza Sakit) was reported to have been subjected to physical mistreatment by prison staff upon his transfer from the medical facility of the penitentiary system back to an ordinary prison facility. Local human rights activists and the international community urged the authorities to conduct an investigation into the incident, as well as to transfer the victim to a different prison. The latter was done on the weekend of 1-2 November.
The Parliament commenced its fall session on 2 October. One of the important pieces of draft legislation on the agenda is the law on measures combating money laundering and financing of terrorism which was adopted at its 2nd reading on 31 October. MONEYVAL and PACE have repeatedly called for an early adoption and subsequent implementation of such legislation. The 3rd and final reading is expected to take place before the end of 2008.
On 27 October, a court decision ordered the re-opening of Abu Bakr Mosque in Baku where a bomb explosion took place on 17 August. This was, however, appealed immediately and another court hearing on 31 October cancelled the previous decision, with the Mosque remaining closed at the time of writing. This Mosque was attended by Salafi followers (sometimes referred to as “Wahhabists”) and drew crowds of some 7000 worshippers for Friday prayers prior to the August incident.
2. Council of Europe action
On 10-11 October in Guba and on 17-18 October in Ganja, two training sessions were organised for prosecutors on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.
On 14-17 October, a study visit to Madrid, Spain, was held for two staff members of each South Caucasus Ombudsman institution in the framework of the Joint Programme “Fostering a culture of Human Rights in South Caucasus” in order to enhance the capacity of lawyers from these institutions to use European Human Rights standards and norms.
On 10 October, the long-term expert under the framework of the Venice Commission’s assistance activities completed his advisory work to the Central Election Commission (CEC) with the system of complaints and appeals.
A project on independent media monitoring by the Union of Journalists, Yeni Nesil of Azerbaijan, under the technical guidance of an international expert was completed on 14 October. Using international methodological standards of quantitative analysis, the media’s coverage was assessed against Council of Europe and other international standards. The monitoring covered the main broadcast and print media. Regular reports on the performance of the media in granting access to different political parties and candidates for presidential office were released including details of tone coverage and the proportion of coverage granted to these parties and candidates. In October, the fifth interim report was released for the first half of the campaign period, as well as the final report covering the entire campaign.
Also in October, the joint VC/ODIHR opinions on Azerbaijan’s recent amendments to the Election Code and on the new Law on Freedom of Assembly, as well as the Guide on Good Practice in Electoral Matters (part of the “Action Plan to support presidential elections in Azerbaijan in 2008”) were published in the Azerbaijani language.
3. Co-ordination and co-operation with partner organisations
Throughout October, the SRSG met with a number of partners from the national authorities and international community, as well as civil society. Topics of discussion were mostly related to election issues and the general situation in Azerbaijan, as well as co-operation aspects and assistance programmes.
On 2 and 13 October, the SRSG attended the pre-election briefings by OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission for the diplomatic corps in Baku.
Also on 2 and 13 October, a representative of the office attended the sessions of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and its Media Group, respectively. Main issues were registration of exit-poll organisations; appeals; and other election campaign-related issues.
On 3 October, the SRSG undertook a joint visit with UNHCR to the Meskhetian communities in Sabirabad/Saatli region to discuss the return of the Meskhetians to Georgia and the progress and problems encountered in practice.
On 8 October, an office representative attended the OSCE Media Activities Co-ordination round table with the participation of embassies and international organisations.
On 10 October, the SRSG chaired the regular meeting of the International Legal Reform Group with participation of representatives from OSCE, ABA RoLI and GTZ.
Also on 10 October, the office participated in the OSCE Election Activities Co-ordination round table with the participation of embassies and international organisations.