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Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance

& Other Ill Treatment

In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to 2025                                                gvnet.com/torture/ Armenia.htm

Republic of Armenia

Reports of police abuse of detainees and poor conditions in prisons persist. After the change in government in 2018, law enforcement agencies renewed dormant investigations into past cases of physical violence by police.

[Freedom House Country Report, 2020]

Description: Description: Armenia

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Armenia.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of particular interest to you.  You might be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the courtroom.  Perhaps your paper might focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures, starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing water  On the other hand, you might choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who perpetrate such cruelty.  There is a lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.  Scan other countries as well as this one.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

*** ARCHIVES ***

Council of Europe anti-torture Committee announces periodic visits to eight countries in 2023

European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment CPT, 27 July 2022

www.coe.int/en/web/cpt/-/council-of-europe-anti-torture-committee-announces-periodic-visits-to-eight-countries-in-2023

[accessed 28 July 2022]

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has announced today its 2023 programme of periodic visits.

The Committee intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the following countries:  Albania, Armenia, Cyprus, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, North Macedonia, and the Slovak Republic.

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Armenia

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/armenia/

[accessed 4 July 2021]

TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT

There were reports of abuse in police stations, which, unlike prisons and police detention facilities, were not subject to public monitoring. Criminal justice bodies continued to rely on confessions and information obtained during questioning to secure convictions. According to human rights lawyers, procedural safeguards against mistreatment during police questioning, such as inadmissibility of evidence obtained through force or procedural violations, were insufficient. According to human rights lawyers, the videotaping in police stations was not effective in providing safeguards against abuse, given that the same police stations had control over the servers storing the recordings and were able to manipulate them.

PRISON AND DETENTION CENTER CONDITIONS

There were reports of abuse in police stations, which, unlike prisons and police detention facilities, were not subject to public monitoring. Criminal justice bodies continued to rely on confessions and information obtained during questioning to secure convictions. According to human rights lawyers, procedural safeguards against mistreatment during police questioning, such as inadmissibility of evidence obtained through force or procedural violations, were insufficient. According to human rights lawyers, the videotaping in police stations was not effective in providing safeguards against abuse, given that the same police stations had control over the servers storing the recordings and were able to manipulate them.

According to the ombudsman and the PMG, impunity related to the deaths of inmates and the lack of a systemic approach to their prevention continued to be one of the most significant human rights problems in prison. There were no investigations into the circumstances of deaths due to illness, such as whether an illness was acquired due to incarceration or if the illness had been preventable or treatable.

Freedom House Country Report

2020 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/armenia/freedom-world/2020

[accessed 14 May 2020]

F3.  IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES?

Reports of police abuse of detainees and poor conditions in prisons persist. After the change in government in 2018, law enforcement agencies renewed dormant investigations into past cases of physical violence by police.

Human rights activist: Ill-treatment, torture continue in Armenia

Panorama.am, 28 November 2018

www.panorama.am/en/news/2018/11/28/Ill-treatment-torture-Armenia/2039524

[accessed 1 December 2, 2018]

The studies conducted by both local and international organizations reveal continuous ill-treatment and torture cases in Armenia, human rights activist Avetik Ishkhanyan said at the conference on the Human Rights Defender’s 10 years of activity in torture prevention launched in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Ishkhanyan, who heads the Helsinki Committee of Armenia NGO, stressed the situation in police has always raised concerns.

Human Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014

Human Rights Watch, 29 January 2015

www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/... or   www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf

[accessed 18 March 2015]

ARMENIA

TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT IN CUSTODY - Local human rights activists report the continued use of torture and ill-treatment in custody, including in police stations and pretrial detention to coerce confessions, as well as in prisons and other facilities. Some victims file complaints; many decline, fearing retaliation and further ill-treatment. The authorities do not always conduct thorough and impartial investigations.

According to the Armenian Helsinki Association, authorities have refused to investigate credible allegations that Yerevan police beat, pulled the hair of, and threatened to harm relatives of Aik Agamalyan, 16, to coerce a confession to an April 2013 murder. Agamalyan’s trial was ongoing at time of writing. Similarly, authorities and a Vanadzor court have refused to act on complaints by Karen Kurngurtsev that police ill-treated him after detaining him in October 2013 on murder charges. Kurngurtsev denies the charges; his trial was ongoing at time of writing.

After an April 4 visit, a public prison monitoring group reported that two inmates at the Artik Penitentiary alleged Gyumri police had ill-treated them in separate incidents to force confessions, including with beatings, kicking, and threats of rape. The investigation was ongoing at time of writing.

On June 12, police detained and beat Hayk Kyureghyan, who demonstrated outside a Yerevan court to support Harutyunyan and other activists on trial. After extensive media coverage of Kyureghyan’s allegations of ill-treatment, authorities opened an investigation, which was pending at time of writing.

Human Rights Overview

Human Rights Watch

www.hrw.org/europecentral-asia/armenia

[accessed 16 January 2013]

More than three years after street clashes between police and opposition protesters turned deadly, meaningful accountability for the excessive use of force by law enforcement remains remote.  Armenia decriminalized libel in May 2010, but amendments to the civil code introduced high monetary fines for libel and led to an increase in lawsuits against newspapers, particularly by public officials. In some cases the excessive damages awarded by courts threaten the survival of newspapers.  Authorities continue to restrict freedom of assembly. Torture and ill-treatment in police custody persist, and the government has failed to effectively investigate a troubling number of deaths in custody, as well as non-combat deaths in the military.

Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights OHCHR -- U.N. Doc. A/56/44, paras. 33-39 (2000)

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/armenia2000.html

[accessed 21 February 2013]

37. THE COMMITTEE IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE FOLLOWING:

(a) The fact that the draft Penal Code does not include some aspects of the definition of torture contained in article 1 of the Convention;

(b) The fact that the rights of persons deprived of liberty are not always respected;

(c) The existence of a regime of criminal responsibility for judges who commit errors in their sentences on conviction, since it might weaken the judiciary;

(d) The lack of effective compensation for victims of acts of torture committed by government officials in contravention of the provisions of article 14 of the Convention;

(e) Poor prison conditions and the fact that prisons come under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior;

(f) The ongoing practice of hazing ("dedovshchina") in the military, which has led to abuses and violations of the relevant provisions of the Convention. This practice also has a devastating effect on victims and may sometimes even lead to their suicide.

38. The Committee notes with concern that the State party has not taken account in its second periodic report of the recommendations the Committee made in connection with the initial report of Armenia in April 1996. In particular, it has not communicated the results of the inquiry on the allegations of ill-treatment that were brought to the Committee's attention.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

From an old article -- URL not available

Article was published sometime prior to 2015

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT - Torture and other ill-treatment remained a concern. In a report published in February, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that many of the detainees and prisoners they interviewed had been subjected to ill-treatment and beatings in police stations. Police and investigators used ill-treatment to obtain confessions, and prosecutors and judges frequently refused to admit evidence of ill-treatment during court proceedings.

In August, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture reported that it had received a significant number of credible allegations of ill-treatment, some amounting to torture, by police during initial interviews.

Steps were taken during the year to establish a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) – an independent body to monitor places of detention – in line with Armenia’s obligations under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture. A Torture Prevention Expert Council was set up within the Human Rights Defender’s Office to act as the NPM, and the composition and guidelines for the NPM were discussed with NGOs and experts and approved. Recruitment for the NPM began in October.

On 9 August, seven young opposition activists detained following a clash with police alleged that they were beaten and ill-treated while in police custody. The activists were reportedly beaten up and detained after they tried to intervene as police officers were searching another man. The activists circulated internet images described as being taken by themselves on their mobile phones, showing some of them with visible injuries on their faces and backs. All seven were charged with hooliganism and assault on state officials, but six were later released on bail. There had been no investigation into the allegations of police ill-treatment by the end of the year.

Search … AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

For current articles:: Search Amnesty International Website

www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=armenia+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance

[accessed 25 December 2018]

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61635.htm

[accessed 16 January 2013]

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61635.htm

[accessed 2 July 2019]

TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law prohibits such practices, although government security forces employed them. Witnesses continued to report numerous cases of police beating citizens during arrest and interrogation while in detention. Most cases of police brutality went unreported because of fear of retribution. Human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also reported claims that police beat detainees during pretrial detention.

The law allows detainees to file complaints prior to trial to address alleged abuses committed by authorities during criminal investigations. Detainees must obtain permission from the police or the prosecutor's office to obtain a forensic medical examination to substantiate a report of torture. According to Human Rights NGOs, however, authorities rarely granted permission for forensic medical examinations and, by years end, there were no convictions for torture.

The government reported that 49 police officers received administrative fines and two others faced criminal charges for their roles in 35 cases involving police brutality.

In November police reportedly beat opposition supporters detained briefly following the marred constitutional referendum.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 6   Civil Liberties: 4   Status: Partly Free

2009 Edition

www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/armenia

[accessed 16 January 2013]

LONG URL   ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21

[accessed 11 May 2020]

The judicial branch is subject to political pressure from the executive branch and suffers from considerable corruption. Police make arbitrary arrests without warrants, beat detainees during arrest and interrogation, and use torture to extract confessions. Cases of abuse go unreported out of fear of retribution.

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Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Armenia", http://gvnet.com/torture/Armenia.htm, [accessed <date>]