President of the European Council Herman Van Rumpoy answered the head of ANC Parliamentary Faction Levon Zourabyan.
The latter is provided below:
Dear Mr. Zourabyan and distinguished members of the Armenian National Congress,
The European Union, together with other international and national actors has repeatedly expressed its serious concern over the lack of results of investigation into ten deaths that occurred during the March 2008 events. Unfortunately, we observe that the investigation of these tragic fatalities has not yet led to any concrete results. Therefore Armenia has still not fully closed a page of the post-election crisis of 1 March 2008.
The European Union is also closely following implementation of the recommendations published in a trial monitoring report by the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe – Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE-ODIHR) of March 2010 on the trials linked to march events which identified several issues of serious concern, including the right of defendants to a fair trial and the right to liberty, and it set out a number of recommendations.
On 15 May 2012, in the European Neighborhood Policy Annual Progress Report for Armenia, the EU again invited Armenia to fully investigate the deaths that occurred during the clashes of March 2008 and the allegations of ill-treatment in police custody and violation of due process. This issue is also a consistent subject of the EU-Armenia Human Rights Dialogue.
I personally urge the Armenian authorities to complete the investigation into ten deaths and to take appropriate measures to bring all those responsible to account, in line with the standards for effective investigations set out in the case law of the European court of Human Rights. It is essential for the public to be informed of the investigation process and outcome.
