"Fourth power": President of Armenia is ready to amnesty convicted oppositionists

On May 20, the oppositional newspaper named "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" (Fourth Power) reported with reference to its sources that President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who was in Nagorno-Karabakh at celebration of the Victory Day, said during one of his meetings in a narrow audience that in the near future he would announce amnesty for the imprisoned oppositional activists.

The President, while among his retinue, including Bako Saakyan, leader of Nagorno-Karabakh, expressed his regret about imprisoned veterans of the Karabakh War: "They're my comrades, and I'll soon release them for sure, and it will be very soon, after passing court decisions."

According to the circles close to Armenian opposition, the amnesty of political prisoner will be announced on May 28.

Earlier, commenting on the opportunity of releasing political prisoners before the forthcoming June session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), David Arutyunyan, head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation to the PACE, said: "I abstain from expressing my opinion on this issue, it is jurisdiction of the President: it's up to him to decide. President can announce amnesty at any moment."

Zarui Postandzhan, another member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, has expressed her confidence that should the Armenian authorities fail to fulfil two requirements of the PACE, namely: release of all political prisoners and start, in reasonable time, a fair investigation into the events on March 1 last year in Yerevan, Armenia will surely face complications.