The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, will carry out a special visit to Armenia from 20 to 22 November to assess the situation of persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the event of 1-2 March and the inquiry into those events.
"I intend to assess the situation of persons deprived of their liberty and the progress made in discovering the responsibilities of the March events" he said. "It is essential that a true and factual description of what actually happened is established. If this can be done it will also benefit future work to protect human rights in Armenia."
During the visit, he will meet with the President of the Republic, Serge Sargsyan, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Head of the National Police and the Prosecutor General. He will also hold meetings with the Chairman of the ad hoc inquiry committee of the National Assembly and the members of the newly-established fact-finding group tasked with the inquiry into the March events, the Human Rights Defender, as well as representatives of international organisations and civil society. Commissioner Hammarberg will also visit places of deprivation of liberty.
Last September, the Commissioner published his findings stating that there was an urgent need to reach a satisfactory solution for prisoners and to hold accountable those responsible for the March events.