Parliamentary majority refuses to put opposition-proposed draft  statement on political prisoners on agenda 

ArmInfo.  As expected, the ruling majority in the National Assembly, represented by the Civil Contract faction, refused to include the opposition-proposed draft parliamentary statement "On Political Prisoners in the Republic of Armenia and the Restoration of Their Violated Rights" on the National  Assembly agenda. At the February 10 session of the National Assembly,  only 21 members voted in favor of the document submitted by the  Armenia faction, with 52 against and one abstention.

As NA MP Elinar Vardanyan noted in her speech, there are currently  more than 60 political prisoners in Armenia. The opposition believes  they have been criminally prosecuted for various political reasons.  Of these, approximately 40 are either in custody or under house  arrest. According to the MP, democratic regression is being observed  in Armenia, and the unprecedented number of political prisoners is  clear evidence of this. "The basis for preparing this draft statement  was the regression of democracy in Armenia, an integral part of which  includes gross violations of freedom of speech, conscience, and  assembly, as well as pressure on the media, fabricated criminal  cases, and electoral trials of various figures and citizens holding  different political views," Vardanyan noted.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Vardanyan, Chairman of the National Assembly  Committee on State and Legal Affairs, noted that the draft statement  contains only bare assertions that are not supported by any facts or  confirmed by international organizations.