CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg urged the RA authorities to release participants of the March 1-2, 2008, events in Yerevan.

“I am still concerned over the matter of imprisoned people. We hailed the amnesty declared by the Armenian President, but urged the country’s leadership to release the rest as well,” Hammarberg told journalists in Yerevan.

Asked whether the imprisoned representatives and allies of opposition are political prisoners, Hammarberg said: “There is no term “political prisoner” in international agreements on human rights. In case of these people we deal with two principles – the right to fair judicial proceedings and the right to equality before the law irrespective of political beliefs. We noted that in case of the convicted persons with respect to the March 1-2, 2008 events there are problems related to fair judicial proceedings. And we believe that these two principles have been violated due to political reasons,” said Hammarberg.