Armenian rights defenders and politicians wait for Hammarberg's objective report

Now, in the aftermath of the visit to Armenia of Thomas Hammarberg, High Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, local human rights activists and politicians expect that his report on the visit will reflect the real situation with human rights in Armenia.

"Of course, it is unlikely that Mr Hammarberg has serious leverages to release political prisoners and impose sanctions. Everyone's expectations are associated with his objective report, which should adequately reflect the real situation in Armenia," Stepan Safaryan, a member of the "Heritage" Party and leader of the parliamentary faction bearing the same name, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his estimates, today, on the eve of the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2012, European agencies are very attentively treating the issue of human rights in Armenia.

According to Natalia Martirosyan, chair of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, so far it is difficult to predict the Council of Europe's response to Mr Hammarberg's assessment of the situation in the country.

"The visit of Mr Thomas Hammarberg has once again demonstrated that out of all European officials, he is the toughest man of principle. However, it's hard to tell now to what extent his opinion will be heard at the Council of Europe. Nevertheless, we wait for his objective report," Ms Martirosyan said.

Levon Zurabyan, coordinator of the Armenian National Congress, said that the Mr Hammarberg's visit and the expected one of the co-rapporteurs of the Council of Europe are obvious evidences of the "pressure of the Council of Europe on the Armenian leadership." "This pressure is already exerted, and it will grow because the Council of Europe understands that the Armenian authorities are fulfilling their obligations before Europe only under severe pressure," he has noted.

Naira Zograbyan, a member of the board of the coalition party "Prosperous Armenia" and head of the parliamentary commission on European integration, believes that Mr Hammarberg's statement that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) would not apply sanctions against Armenia was expected.

"I'd be surprised should Hammarberg have said the opposite. The government is gradually following the requirements of PACE's resolutions. The problems are gradually solved. Maybe the pace doesn't quite satisfy us or our colleagues in the PACE, but, as Thomas Hammarberg rightly said, it's absolutely not the reason to apply sanctions against our delegation and Armenia," Ms Zograbyan said.