The citizen applied to
the Human Rights Defender of Armenia to request assistance to remove the
restriction imposed on them from leaving the country from the Border Electronic
Management Information System (BEMIS system).
The applicant noted that they
had the status of a defendant in a criminal case; the criminal prosecution
against them was terminated, and the mentioned case was terminated, but the
restriction on their exit from the territory of the Republic of Armenia had yet
to be lifted.
As a direct result of the
cooperation between the Office of the Defender and the Police, the obstacle for
the citizen to leave the country was removed.
The Human Rights Defender
records that in connection with criminal cases, the practice of illegally
restricting a person's right to free movement and keeping the concerned person
in a state of uncertainty continues to be problematic. This refers to the
issues related to the Border Electronic Management Information System, the main
issue being the fact that a person does not know or is not informed that a ban
is imposed on them form leaving the country. Even years later, a person is not
able to leave the country.
Complaints addressed to
the Human Rights Defender over the years demonstrate that this systemic issue
remains problematic and has not been resolved. Only during 2020, as a result of
the state of emergency and martial law, the number of complaints were less.
After the removal of the restrictions on crossing a state border, complaints
continue to be addressed.
According to Article 144
of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, the suspect or the
defendant who has signed a statement not to leave the country may not travel to
another place or change their place of residence without the permission of the
investigating body, investigator, prosecutor or court: They are obliged to
appear at the call of the investigating body, investigator, prosecutor, or
court, to inform them about the change of his place of residence.
In particular, the data
on the application of the "Signature not to leave" precautionary
measure by the prosecuting authorities are entered into the BEMIS. This is
envisaged by the June 22, 2006, 884-Ն decision "On the establishment of
the border electronic management information system of the Republic of Armenia,
the procedure for its operation and the list of users of the system. " of
the Government Armenia. The task of this system is to establish a unified
information system for registration of vehicles entering and leaving the Republic
of Armenia by the relevant ministries of the Republic of Armenia, other public
administration bodies, to ensure the receipt, accumulation and processing of
information, as well as to provide the necessary data to the relevant bodies.
One of the main issues is
that fact that the legislation, in relation to the mentioned precautionary
measure, does not provide for the entry of the information into the BBEMIS
system or a ban on a person to leave the country.
That is, this restriction
is not provided for by any legislation. Moreover, persons are generally not
informed that along the chosen precautionary measure, a ban which is not
provided for by legislation has been imposed on them (their right to cross the
state border from any checkpoint has been restricted)
Cases have continued to
be registered where relevant entries have not been made in the BEMIS system
after the removal of the applied precautionary measures, and a person has been
notified that there is still a ban imposed on them where trying to cross the state
border of Armenia.
More problematic cases
have been registered as well, where the mentioned restriction is applied on
persons who are neither defendants nor suspects, and against whom precautionary
measure are not applied.
It should be noted that
the Office of the Human Rights Defender has appropriate cooperation at the
level of competent officials, with the Investigative Committee of Armenia, the
Police and other state bodies.
As in 2017-2019, the
complaints analyzed in 2020 by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia revealed
cases in which individuals had served a court-imposed sentence, but the
restriction on their right to leave the country had not been removed from the
BEMIS system on the basis of the ban imposed during the pre-trail.
Due to the fact that the
trial is over, persons in such situations cannot find the relevant body that
can abolish the ban.
The issue continues to
remain relevant even after the decision of the Constitutional Court based on
the application submitted by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia.
The Defender reaffirms
his position that the problem should be resolved by overcoming the legislative
gap, and by fixing the relevant procedures. At the same time, it should be
noted that if a person has some type of judicial status, for example, of an
accused, but no precautionary measure has been applied to him, then their right
to leave the country cannot be restricted in any way.
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