Armenian Justice Minister disagrees with US Ambasador critics 

ArmInfo.Arpine Hovhanisyan, the Armenian Minister of Justice, doe not share the  opinion expressed by Richard Mills, the  United States Ambassador to  Armenia.  This was stated  in respons to ArmInfo reporter question. 

 "I don't  think that it is fair to deny the fact that a number of  draft laws, aimed at the corruption struggle and adopted by the  Parliament recently, have been discussed and developed based on the  results of Anti Corruption Board activities, and the appropriate  instructions were issued exactly by that entity," the Minsiter  stated. 

According to  Hovhannisyan, all this once again states the fact that  authorities and the Government of Armenia  do ess their political  will in respect to the corruption struggle and implement appropriate  steps. " In this respect, I don't think that there is a need to call  a separate press conference for this issue and to voice certain  messages, especially within  considering the fact that solutions for  many problems accentuated by Ambassador, are found and defined  already," Hovhannisyan mentioned and reminded, that illegal  enrichment criminalization is an effective and strong tool for  corruption struggle. As another tool, the Minister mentioned the  development of regulatory package on cash transactions restrictions .   "Beside that, the Anti Corruption Board has reviewed and given a  positive resolution to the approval on expansion of the persons  affiliated to officials, who should also  submit revenue statements,"  the Minister stated. 

Referring to  the Ambassador's suggestion  regarding independent Anti  Corruption entiry, Hovhannisyan reminded that according to the  instruction of President Serzh Sargsyan, the appropriate working team  is already close to the completion of such entity   in the structure  of the Ethics Committee, which will be granted large responsibilities  to provide adequate response to the violations fetched out.

 " I hope my response  has softened the concerns of American  diplomat, and showed that anti corruption arrangements contained in   the Program of the Government of Republic of Armenia, do conform to  both EU and America Embassy priorities, as well as to priorities of   our other  partners.  To remind,  recently the US Ambassador Richard  Mills stated at his press conference, that  U.S. Embassy witnessed  some troubling trends in the areas of human rights and rule of law  over the past 15 months that give cause for real concern, U.S.   Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills said in his remarks to American  Chamber of Commerce of Armenia in Yerevan on Feb 1.   "Despite some  progress and notable success stories which give reason  for hope, we  have also witnessed some troubling trends in the areas  of human  rights and rule of law.  Let me first mention some of  Armenia's very  laudable successes in this area.  One of the most  impressive is the  fact that it retained its status as a Tier I  country in the State  Department's Trafficking in Persons Report for  the fourth straight  year, thanks in large part to its interagency  working group, which  is a model of cooperation between the government  and civil society,"  the Ambassador said. 

Richard Mills also addressed the events of Erebuni (seizure of a   police compound by Sasna Tsrer (Daredevils of Sassoon) - editor's   note) last July. "During much of the 15-day standoff, Armenia's law  enforcement struck a good balance in terms of securing Armenians'   safety and security around an active site, while defending Armenians'   rights to peacefully protest.  However, we were deeply concerned by   the credible reports of excessive use of force used by the police   against unarmed protestors and journalists on July 29-30.  We made   our concerns clear at that time, noting that such actions violated   press freedom and the rights of Armenian citizens to the freedom of   expression and of peaceful assembly," Ambassador Mills said.  Another   area of concern which the fallout of Erebuni highlighted, has been   the Government's use of pre-trial detention, he said. "I will be   frank that in the case of Erebuni and other politically sensitive   cases this year, we are concerned by the pre- trial detentions of   several defendants who participated in the demonstrations or are   suspected of giving non-violent support to the militants, but were   not involved in the actual armed seizure of the police station or in   the deaths of the policemen. Let me be clear, my intention in   mentioning these cases is not to prejudge their guilt or innocence,   but to emphasize that each pre-trial detention decision must be based   on a strong, fully transparent legal rationale," he noted