During the monitoring visits conducted by the Office of the Human Rights Defender, acting as a National Preventive Mechanism, the continued problematic practice of not registering the injuries of persons deprived of their liberty during medical examination in penitentiary institutions was registered. In this context, the complaints addressed to the Human Rights Defender are numerous.
In particular, the studies conducted by the Human Rights Defender prove that in case of revealing injuries on persons deprived of their liberty during their admission in the penitentiary institutions, cases of injuries resulting from alleged violence are not registered and appropriate procedures are not initiated.
Within the context of the monitoring visit conducted to “Abovyan” penitentiary institution, the private interviews conducted by the representatives of the Human Rights Defender, and the subsequent examining of the relevant records, it was revealed that injuries were discovered on the person deprived of their liberty during their admission into the penitentiary institution, and the persons stated that the injuries were sustained due to the use of disproportionate force during the arrest; although these circumstances were not registered. Moreover, during the discussion of the issue by the representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism, registration of the circumstances of the incident were registered after 63 hours, violating the procedures established by the legislation.
After the analysis of several individual complaints, it was revealed that injuries discovered on persons deprived of their liberty during the primary medical examination during their admission to “Armavir” penitentiary institution are not properly registered, and relevant recording of alleged torture and other forms of ill-treatment by law enforcement bodies are not presented. According to the justifications presented by the Ministry of Justice, the reason for not appropriately registering injuries sustained during the admission to the penitentiary institution is the existence of a record of bodily injuries in the personal file completed in the place of deprivation of liberty during their admission in the penitentiary institution.
The Defender notes that the justification provided cannot serve as a basis for the medical staff of the "Prison Medical Center" SNCO not to make the relevant registrations and not sending them to law enforcement bodies.
The proper registering of injuries sustained by persons deprived of their liberty while being admitted to the penitentiary institution is mandatory in every case, since a person is deprived of their liberty even during their transfer to the penitentiary institution.
Another problematic practice is the incomplete and non-professional registering of injuries. The description of the injury recorded in a person deprived of liberty does not include a complete picture of the results of an objective medical examination; the exact anatomical location of injuries and other criteria describing them are not presented. Moreover, the conclusion of the doctors is not presented as well about the objective description of the injuries and on the ways and reasons for sustaining the injuries as described by the person deprived of their liberty.
Moreover, another area of concern is the unacceptable practice of not conducting a proper medical examination of injuries sustained in the penitentiary institution, and the not sending of the records on the alleged ill-treatment of law enforcement bodies to the relevant authorities.
The mentioned issues with detailed analysis and appropriate proposals for solving them are regularly presented in the annual reports of the Human Rights Defender as a National Preventive Mechanism.
We once again call upon the Ministry of Justice and other relevant bodies to maintain under direct attention the oversight of registering of alleged cases of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and the insurance of proper and multifaceted investigation of those cases and contribute to their prevention.
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