Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

The UN proclaimed June 26 as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

HCAV activity aimed at protecting the absolute right to be free from torture, and the problems identified during this activity

Addressing HCAV activity in the frame of protecting the absolute right to be free from torture, we hereby record that legislative changes and various legal regulations have not entailed qualitative and systemic changes in terms of effectiveness of investigation into cases of violations of the right to be free from torture.

In 2020-2023, HCAV carried out the following activities in the frame of cases of torture, physical and psychological violence, and ill-treatment.

 * HCAV filed 21 crime reports with the RA Prosecutor General’s Office. Claims were upheld in 12 cases, criminal cases were initiated and are currently in the investigation stage.  6 of the decisions to refuse to initiate a criminal case were appealed and are currently being examined in court.

 * HCAV addressed 7 letters to the RA Police, claiming to conduct a service investigation, and filed 3 crime reports.

* Five of the claims to initiate a service investigation were upheld, the policemen were reprimanded or strictly reprimanded. Based on two reports, a criminal case was initiated and is currently being investigated. The decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case was appealed and is currently being examined in court.

*  Five reports were filed with the RA Investigative Committee and the former Special Investigation Service. Criminal cases have been initiated in the frame of four of them. One rejected case has been appealed and is being examined.

For decades on end, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor has prioritized restoration of the rights of torture survivors as one of its strategic litigations and adopted the issue of holding torture perpetrators liable as one of its directions of human rights protection.

Summing up the conducted work, we can record that as compared to the acting legislative regulations, the reality is, unfortunately, different. And even today, in the Republic of Armenia, which is proclaimed a democratic state governed by the rule of law, competent bodies commit worrisome and condemnable cases of ill-treatment, physical and psychological violence, and torture of persons. 

Below are some cases of torture, in the frame of which HCAV implemented human rights protection.

🔴 The case of Marts village

🔴  The case of Gagik Karapetyan and Albert Hakobjanyan

🔴  The case of Yerablur

🔴 The case of Poligraf

🔴  The case of Alen Simonyan

Summing up cases of protecting the absolute right to be free from torture, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor records that competent bodies continue their unpunished conduct of ill-treatment, physical and psychological violence against citizens in the Republic of Armenia.