ARMINFO, 6 JUNE. The date for the ratification of the 6th protocol of the European Human Rights Convention which requires the [full and unconditional] abolition of the death penalty, which was previously set for June this year, has been extended until December 2003, the deputy speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, Tigran Torosyan, told today's news conference.

He said that such an agreement had been achieved during the 25 May visit by a representative of the monitoring commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE].

Torosyan believes that the PACE met Armenia halfway since the ratification of the 6th protocol immediately after the parliamentary elections would be impossible.