Legal reforms in the Caucausus countries and the prohibition of political parties in Turkey on the agenda of the Venice Commission

The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission is going to discuss the following issues at its forthcoming plenary session taking place on 13 and 14 March 2009 in Venice:

• amendments to the Criminal Code of Armenia in relation to the March 2008 events;
• the constitutional referendum in Azerbaijan, which inter alia would enable the President to be reelected more than once;
• the Georgian law on occupied territories (Abkhazia and South Ossetia);
• the constitutional and legal provisions relevant for the prohibition of political parties in Turkey.

Other opinions to be adopted by the Commission concern:

• the adminissibility of a constitutional referendum in Albania;
• constitutional amendments in Georgia,
• the Draft law on freedom to receive information in Armenia;
• the Law on the Constitutional Court of the Palestinian National Authority;

Furthemore, the Commission will adopt reports on:

• an internationally recognised status of election observers;
• European standards as regards the independence of the judicial system 

The EU Special Representative for the Southern Caucasus, Peter Semneby, Director of Multilateral Relations and Human Rights of the European Commission, Veronique Arnault, and the Director of the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Janez Lenarcic, will address the Commission.

The 78th plenary session will start at 9.30 am on Friday 13 March and finish at 12.30 pm on Saturday 14 March (Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice).

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The Venice Commission is an advisory body of the Council of Europe specialised in constitutional matters. Comprised of independent eminent lawyers, it counts 55 member states.