INHUMAN CONDITIONS IN PRE-TRIAL DETENTION CENTERS OF ARMENIA
AZG Armenian Daily #071, 18/04/2007
The deputy head of a police department in charge of overseeing public order, Colonel Karen Mehrabian stated today that an inner investigation confirmed the findings of a public monitoring group, an alliance of 11 non-governmental organizations, set up to monitor the situation in pre-trial and detention centers.
Mehrabian said police are working now to eliminate the most crying shortcomings and defects, revealed by the group, while it was visiting the detainees between April-October 2006.
The findings of this monitoring, embracing 50 detention and pre-trial prisons across the country, were presented today in a report, compiled by the group.
Arsen Fidanian, coordinator of the group, said the monitoring was made largely through visits to pre-trial prisons and detention centers, some of which were surprise visits. He said the report was based also on findings of the Office of the Ombudsman and information from some detainees.
He said the main subject of the monitoring was to find out wherther whether people in detention centers were kept legally, what kind of food and medical treatment they received and whether they were subjected to torture or any illegal ways of punishment. According to Mr. Fidanian the most frequent law offence by the police in Armenia is keeping the suspects in the places of pre-trial detention for more than 48 hours, as it is provided by the law. He said that some people are kept there for over a month’s term without being officially found guilty by the court.
The report was sent to police, which examined it for three months and promised to take action to eliminate the reported defects.
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.
The deputy head of a police department in charge of overseeing public order, Colonel Karen Mehrabian stated today that an inner investigation confirmed the findings of a public monitoring group, an alliance of 11 non-governmental organizations, set up to monitor the situation in pre-trial and detention centers.
Mehrabian said police are working now to eliminate the most crying shortcomings and defects, revealed by the group, while it was visiting the detainees between April-October 2006.
The findings of this monitoring, embracing 50 detention and pre-trial prisons across the country, were presented today in a report, compiled by the group.
Arsen Fidanian, coordinator of the group, said the monitoring was made largely through visits to pre-trial prisons and detention centers, some of which were surprise visits. He said the report was based also on findings of the Office of the Ombudsman and information from some detainees.
He said the main subject of the monitoring was to find out wherther whether people in detention centers were kept legally, what kind of food and medical treatment they received and whether they were subjected to torture or any illegal ways of punishment. According to Mr. Fidanian the most frequent law offence by the police in Armenia is keeping the suspects in the places of pre-trial detention for more than 48 hours, as it is provided by the law. He said that some people are kept there for over a month’s term without being officially found guilty by the court.
The report was sent to police, which examined it for three months and promised to take action to eliminate the reported defects.
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.
Labels: ArmenIa - Society
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