Levon Ter-Petrossian’s Letter to Thorbjørn Jagland

First president of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian, issued a letter yesterday to Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjørn Jagland, in which he presents a list and timetable of reforms prepared by the Armenian National Congress referring to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Monitoring Committee report on March 1, 2008 events following the country’s presidential election.

The letter, in part, reads:

“We are encouraged to see that Armenia’s situation has not left the Council’s radar screen and that it remains committed to the implementation of the resolutions adopted by the PACE following the fraudulent presidential elections in 2008.

“As you probably know, the Monitoring Committee will be discussing the timetable of reforms to be presented by the Armenian authorities in response to the concerns raised both in the aforementioned resolutions and the statement issued by the PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia Mr. Georges Colombier and Mr. John Prescott.

“With this letter we are presenting to you the list and a timetable of reforms prepared by the Armenian National Congress, which we have also presented to the Monitoring Committee and the co-rapporteurs. We hope you will exercise the institutional capacity of your office, as well as your personal influence, to make sure that it becomes a part of the discussion during the 17 March session of the Monitoring Committee.

“The implementation of these reforms is a matter of urgent necessity, because the existing flaws in our political and judicial systems is a source of continued hardship and injustice, which ordinary Armenians have to endure on a daily basis.”