YEREVAN. – The European Union (EU) is closely following the processes resulting from the events in July, including the course of the cases into the people that were imprisoned, and is holding discussions on this matter, with the Human Rights Defender of Armenia.

Dirk Lorenz, Head of the Political, Economic, Press and Information Section of the EU Delegation to Armenia, on Friday told the aforesaid to reporters.

He said they monitored the events following an armed group’s takeover of a police patrol regiment building in capital city Yerevan in July, and expressed an official view stressing that it is unacceptable to use force in order to achieve political change.

Lorenz added that they also expressed their concern over the use of force against demonstrators, and encouraged to conduct a respective investigation.

The EU official noted that they discuss matters relating to human rights in Armenia with a special format, once a year, and that the events in July will be one of the topics to be conferred on during their next discussion.  

Dirk Lorenz, stated that they will express their final view also regarding the recent local government elections in Armenia, once the respective investigation results will be ready.

Mid-term results of the projects, which the Council of Europe (CoE) and the EU have envisioned for Eastern Partnership countries, especially Armenia, were presented Friday in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan.

These four country-specific projects being carried out in Armenia under the Programmatic Cooperation Framework in 2015-2017, focus on improving electoral processes in the country, combating ill-treatment and impunity, strengthening healthcare and human rights protection in Armenian prisons, as well as fighting corruption in higher education in Armenia.

The projects are funded by the EU and the CoE, and are implemented by the latter. The total budget of these projects is 2.2 million euros. In addition to the results of these country-specific projects, the results of the 14 regional initiatives, in which Armenia participates and which covers all Eastern Partnership countries, will also be presented.