ARMENIA FACES DILEMMA

The deadline, set by the Council of Europe for Armenia to meet one of the commitments, it assumed when joining this most respected European human rights body- to abolish death penalty, is expiring. If Armenia fails to ratify Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights by the beginning of June, which also supposes passage of the constitutional amendments and a new criminal code, the Council of Europe may �punish� Armenia by a set of sanctions, either by one year suspension of Armenia�s voting right in its Parliamentary Assembly or its expulsion. The Armenian parliament rubber-stamped the package of constitutional amendments, drafted by president Kocharian�s staff, which was followed by a president decree on putting it on a national referendum, to be held concurrently with next May 25 parliamentary elections.

The new criminal code, which Armenia was supposed to pass within 1 year after its formal joining the Council of Europe, was approved only in the 2nd, but not final reading, 2 years after Armenia became Council of Europe member. The 3rd and final reading is put on the agenda of an extraordinary session to be called today.

�As the criminal code is the main punishment mechanism and as it affects the fate of thousands of people, we have arranged with the Council of Europe representatives to have more time for its approval, but as the criminal code is tied also with the death penalty, another bill on enactment of the criminal code has been developed in parallel, which incorporates the death penalty issue and the fate of people on the death row,� deputy parliament chairman Tigran Torosian told the daily Azg.

The 2nd bill approved in the 1st reading and, also included on extraordinary session�s agenda, is to actually have a regulatory role between the ratification of the Protocol 6 and the passage of the new criminal code, as the latter does not stipulate death penalty as the highest punishment measure.

Will Armenia meet the deadline, especially that the current parliament�s term expires before the end of May? �It is very difficult to do it. From the very beginning the prolongation of the issue was backed up by weighty reasons, however, all arguments and grounds were heard and taken into account in both bills, but the bill may face serious opposition in the parliament. The only problem is connected with the October 27 case, but the Council of Europe does not recognize any reservations in the question of death abolition and we shall have to choose what we want, maintenance of death penalty or Council of Europe membership,� Torosian said.

Torosian admitted that his Republican Party has contributed to the dragging off the issue, as �there were objective reasons for it and certainly it would be better to have the trial ended with verdict, as it would facilitate the decision on abolishing death penalty.� Torosian said that his party still has time to specify its position.

2 other influential Armenian parties, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and the National Democratic Union believe that Armenia must honor its obligations without any reservation. including also abolition of death penalty. The opposition People Party of Armenia thinks that abolition of death penalty and ratification of Protocol 6 is still premature, as long as the October 27 trial is not finished yet.