Souhayr Belhassen President Internation Federation for Human Rights Dear Ms. Belhassen: Well aware of the authority the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) enjoys, we are pleased that the organization’s forum entitled “JUSTICE : New Challenges - the Right to an Effective Remedy before an Independent Tribunal” will take place in Yerevan,  Armenia from 6th to 8th April, 2010. Nevertheless, considering the extraordinary situation  in Armenia we believe that there are certain circumstances that should have been taken into account while setting the forum’s agenda. The situation in Armenia vis-à-vis the respect for human rights since the February 19, 2008 presidential election may  be characterized as disastrous. The violent crackdown on the peaceful demonstrators protesting against the election results, i.e. the proclamation of Serzh Sargsyan president,  as a result of which ten people were killed, has strengthened the doubts that were aroused among the public on  election day. The state of emergency declared in Armenia on March 1, 2008 during which—under  conditions of an absolute ban on freedom of assembly and free press—the  government carried out a reprisal against the leaders of the popular opposition movement and hundreds of its supporters and sympathizers deepened these doubts even more. The political motivations of the persecution were clearly manifested through the baseless and proofless verdicts in the Armenian courts. The Amnesty Act implemented out of despair could not mitigate the deepening social crisis since what the public expected was not the government’s mercy but justice. The situation was assessed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (resolutions: 1609[1], 1620[2], 1643[3], 1677[4]), the OSCE/ODIHR[5], US Department of State[6] , Freedom House[7] and Human Rights Watch[8]. Under these circumstances, it is beyond our understanding how and why the  honor of opening the FIDH Yerevan Forum has been reserved for Serzh Sargsyan who continues to govern the Republic of Armenia with doubtful legitimacy. The participation of  the Minister of Justice,  Gevorg Danielyan is equally incomprehensible. If these people are to participate in a Forum organized by such an authoritative organization as FIDH,  then it should be only in order to be called to account. They must explain why they falsify the elections, why they persecute politicians and people with political points of views, they must explain why they came to power at the cost of ten people’s lives, they have to account for why those who killed ten people have not yet been identified, and finally, they have to account for why fifteen political prisoners are still kept in prison. If this were the case, our public would perhaps understand the necessity of the presence of Serzh Sargsyan and Gevorg Danielyan at the FIDH Forum.  Yet as it is, we have the  impression that the FIDH Forum - against the background of discussing issues related to the respect for human rights - has as an object the legitimization of those leaders of Armenia who are no different from their colleagues in Myanmar,  Yemen, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, China, Rwanda, Kenya, Zimbabwe,  or Cambodia in respect to violating human rights. We hope that FIDH secretariat will take into consideration our just protest and will make certain changes in the forum’s agenda,  while providing an opportunity for representatives of hundreds of people subjected to political persecution and the legal successors of the victims of March 1, 2008 to address the forum. Sincerely, Melissa Brown, Wives of Armenia's Political Prisoners (Shahkhatun) Mikael Danielyan, Helsinki Association Artak Zeynalyan, Jurists Against Torture Andranik Kocharyan, Member of Fact-finding Group studying the events of March 1st, 2008 Anna Zhamkochyan, "Socioscop" NGO Ara Ghazaryan, Lawyer Tigran Paskevichyan, Writer, publicist ---------------------------------------- [1] http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta08/ERES1609.htm [2] http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta08/ERES1620.htm [3] http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta09/ERES1643.htm [4] http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta09/ERES1677.htm [5] http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2010/03/42944_en.pdf [6] http://armenia.usembassy.gov/uploads/CQ/ae/CQaeIxkB5Pv1bevKi917mw/hrr2009.pdf [7] http://www.freedomhouse.org [8] http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2010