Early this morning, the representatives
of the Human Rights Defender visited the Yerevan detention center of the
Police, to meet with the deputies of the Head of Goris community, Mr. Menua
Hovsepyan and Ms. Irina Yolyan, the chief specialist of the department of
social affairs, and a specialist in the finance department (both women).
During the visit,
personal interviews were conducted, and the status of the protection of the
rights of the arrested persons was checked.
The visit, the private
interviews, and the studies revealed several issues related to internationally
guaranteed human rights:
· For the purpose of
arresting the two deputies of the Head of Goris community, two staff member of
the municipality, the Police initially blocked all the entrances of the
building of the municipality.
· Afterwards, according
to the private interviews, arrested 20 masked servicemen of the Police armed
with machine guns arrested the mentioned staff of the municipality in the
building and transferred them to the city of Yerevan.
In addition to the
mentioned Police servicemen, a person with civilian cloths was also present. He
was noticed for his aggressive behavior towards the arrested persons.
During the transfer of
the arrested persons, including three women, the Police servicemen were masked
and armed with their machine guns. They did not identify themselves during the
execution of the arrest warrant and the apprehension of the mentioned persons.
· During the
apprehension, and particularly when the apprehended were taken out of the municipality
building, photos and videos were taken.
Moreover, this took place
against the will of the arrested persons, including the women. One of the women
asked to stop the filming, as it was done in a way that violated her dignity;
however, photos and videos were still taken. In response to this demand, the
Police servicemen stated that if she was so demanding, then she would be the
first whose photos and videos would be taken.
All the arrested persons,
including the 3 women, stated that their apprehension took place in a manner
that violated their dignity, and was specifically done in a manner that would
be visible to the persons who were present in the municipality building and the
residents of the city.
· The arrest and
detention process was organized in such a way that persons deprived of their
liberty did not have the opportunity to contact a lawyer.
The police servicemen did
not allow them to use their right to a phone call without giving any reason or
justification. (only at the request of one of the women she was allowed to send
a short message to one of the family members while they were in the car).
The Human Rights Defender
received alarming-calls yesterday from some of their relatives, mentioning that
they were not aware of their location.
· Mr. Menua Hovsepyan
informed that when he was taken out of the building and put in a car, and
handcuffed; according to him this was done only for the purpose of taking
photos and videos.
· Three of the arrested
people have minor children.
None of the arrested
persons accepted the charges against them. They stated that the persecution
against them, including their deprivation of liberty, was illegal, had no
grounds, and committed in violation of their rights.
The Human Rights Defender
considers it necessary to state that the above-mentioned actions of the police
servicemen, in connection with the arrests and detentions, directly violate the
requirements of the European Court of Human Rights, the European Committee for
the Prevention of Torture and other international organizations.
In particular, in
accordance with the direct requirements of international law, it is permissible
to wear masks or be armed with machine guns only in exceptional cases when, for
example, detainees pose a real threat to the lives of police servicemen.
Moreover, the use of
masks, handcuffs, and especially the fact that 20 police servicemen are armed
with machine guns, must be justified by high standards.
The law enforcement body
must indicate the circumstances which were the reasons for the arrest and
detention by the masked police officers armed with that number of machine guns,
who also used handcuffs, and did not identify themselves during the entire
process of the arrest.
These international
requirements are of preventive importance in order to ensure the accountability
of law enforcement bodies and to prevent any form of ill-treatment.
In this specific case, it
is about a man and three women. Moreover, one of the women is over 65 years
old. The fact that the police officers did not identify themselves during the
whole process of detention, including during the transfer to Yerevan,
contradicts the mentioned international requirements.
For any person deprived
of their liberty, the rights to a lawyer, to a phone call, and the requirement
to exclude ill-treatment are internationally guaranteed minimum standards. They
aim to protect a person from unlawful persecution and unlawful deprivation of
liberty and to guarantee their fair protection from the mechanism of criminal
prosecution exercised by the state at the initial and riskiest stage of
criminal proceedings.
The results of the visit
will be summarized and relevant letters will be addressed to the law
enforcement bodies.
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