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The editor of the daily Aravot writes in its editorial that yesterday the 2010 report of the Amnesty International rights organization was published. The paper says unfortunately Armenia was noticed with a number of criteria like death in the police department, impunity, freedom of speech, violence against women and children and prisoners of conscious. The author says though that he is not inclined to accept all the assessments of the organization as a bare truth. "For example, in the category of 'Prisoners of Conscience' of that report it is mentioned that there are 73 imprisoned men in Armenia who have declined military service," says the editor of the daily.
Further, in his editorial he says that the term "prisoner of conscience" was coined by the same Amnesty International in the 1960s and refers to those who have been imprisoned for expressing their political, religious or scientific views.
"It's interesting to know how draft evasion is assessed in the most democratic countries (if there is no professional army). I am sure that it is a crime there too for which men are being imprisoned," says the author.
He also says that if the Amnesty International meant that those 73 men are sectarians and do not want to go to the army over their religious beliefs and that the state in its turn did not offer them an alternative military service, then it should have put it that way. "Otherwise there is no clarity for which concrete reason they are considered as 'prisoners of conscience'," says the editorial.
The daily Azg writes that the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek is arriving in Armenia May 18 starting his regional visit to the South Caucasian countries. The paper says during his visit Jerzy Buzek will meet RA President Serzh Sargsyan, Speaker of Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan and the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, encompassing members of all parliamentary parties. President Jerzy Buzek will also meet Levon Ter-Petrosyan, ANC leader, as well as representatives of civil society.
The daily Haykakan Zhamanak writes that according to the talks circulating in Armenia's political circles, the political prisoners may be set free through a pardon as an alternative to an amnesty. It says that the Armenian Catholicos, the Public Council and other public figures are set to ask President Serzh Sargsyan to grant pardon to all the political prisoners by May 28. "There is some 14 days remaining until May 28; let's see which of the options Serzh Sargsyan may choose," the paper comments.
The semi-weekly 168 Zham writes that it has learned that yesterday, Armenian President Serzh Sargysan sent his Russian counterpart a CD containing recordings of Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gilan and Black Sabath guitarist Tony Iommi. The CD titled "Who Cares " was released after the 1988 disastrous earthquake in Armenia, the paper says, adding that its aim was to collect funds for the renovation of a musical school in Armenia's second largest town of Gyumri. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had earlier announced that he is a big fan of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, the paper says.