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Matthew Bryza: â€Armenian government does not cease arrests of opposition leaders despite our challengesâ€

14 March 2008 10:53 (UTC +04:00)

They have to choose concrete themes of discussionsâ€, said Matthew Bryza, US Deputy Secretary of State in his interview with Radio Liberty, APA reports. He said US was supporting EU idea to conduct independent investigation of the events happened on March 1. â€œWe support the idea of an independent investigation, and it’s useful. But, I think it will be very difficult ever to assess exactly how the tragically violent events transpired. Armenian authorities say security forces used no firearms, when they dispersed the demonstration on March 1. The opposition says Special Forces fired indiscriminately on demonstrators and that there are more casualties than the government has reportedâ€. Matthew Bryza demanded to punish those, who used violence unlawfully and who were violating election law and said Armenian government was not ceasing arrests of opposition activists despite US challenges. The Deputy Secretary of State said Armenian government called protest actions as a â€œcruel and barbarousâ€, but there were a lot of allegations that both the government and the opposition sides were using violence.
â€œThe problem is that if there is not a free flow of information through an independent media, each side tends to demonize the other. Ultimately, of course, governments have responsibility for the use of government force against civilians. Civilians in return have responsibility to protest peacefully and to use mechanisms within the rule of law to express themselvesâ€.
Responding the question about President Bush’s possible involvement in the solution of tensions in Armenia, M. Bryza said US administration had very effective channels of communication and he was comfortable that the way they were communicating with the government was satisfactory. â€It’s up to President Bush to decide when to get involved in any issueâ€.