Europe and Central Asia: Torture and ill-treatment
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Media Briefing
AI Index: EUR 01/004/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 024
27 January 2006
[...]
ArmeniaExcessive use of force by the police when dispersing demonstrations was reported on several occasions. Law enforcement officers allegedly ill-treated demonstrators in the process of arrest.
In August 2005, police allegedly removed by force and severely beat a resident who refused to leave his home in a neighbourhood of the capital Yerevan which was to be demolished under an urban renewal scheme. Vahe Grigorian, a lawyer representing several residents from the neighbourhood, was arrested on 10 October, reportedly on fabricated fraud charges. The father of one of his clients told the Ombudsperson's Office that he had been ill-treated and forced to incriminate Vahe Grigorian.
Scores of people were injured and forcibly detained when special police units reportedly armed with truncheons used water cannons and stun grenades to break up a peaceful opposition demonstration in the capital Yerevan in the early hours of 13 April 2004. Four journalists who were covering the demonstration were reportedly severely beaten by police officers. Dozens more opposition activists and supporters, including women, were reportedly beaten and ill-treated during unsanctioned armed police raids on the head offices of the main opposition parties launched that same night.
On 28 April 2004 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemned the use of force by police and called on the authorities to investigate any alleged human rights violations and to release those opposition members still in detention. In July 2004, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture or Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment published a report on its 2002 visit to Armenia. The report stated that people detained ran a significant risk of being ill-treated, that prisons were overcrowded, and that conditions of detention for people sentenced to life imprisonment were poor.
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Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Media Briefing
AI Index: EUR 01/004/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 024
27 January 2006
[...]
ArmeniaExcessive use of force by the police when dispersing demonstrations was reported on several occasions. Law enforcement officers allegedly ill-treated demonstrators in the process of arrest.
In August 2005, police allegedly removed by force and severely beat a resident who refused to leave his home in a neighbourhood of the capital Yerevan which was to be demolished under an urban renewal scheme. Vahe Grigorian, a lawyer representing several residents from the neighbourhood, was arrested on 10 October, reportedly on fabricated fraud charges. The father of one of his clients told the Ombudsperson's Office that he had been ill-treated and forced to incriminate Vahe Grigorian.
Scores of people were injured and forcibly detained when special police units reportedly armed with truncheons used water cannons and stun grenades to break up a peaceful opposition demonstration in the capital Yerevan in the early hours of 13 April 2004. Four journalists who were covering the demonstration were reportedly severely beaten by police officers. Dozens more opposition activists and supporters, including women, were reportedly beaten and ill-treated during unsanctioned armed police raids on the head offices of the main opposition parties launched that same night.
On 28 April 2004 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemned the use of force by police and called on the authorities to investigate any alleged human rights violations and to release those opposition members still in detention. In July 2004, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture or Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment published a report on its 2002 visit to Armenia. The report stated that people detained ran a significant risk of being ill-treated, that prisons were overcrowded, and that conditions of detention for people sentenced to life imprisonment were poor.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:37 AM
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