Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

On November 20, 2024, a conference on “The State of Protection of the Absolute Right to Be Free from Torture and Degrading Treatment in Armenia. Is Impunity Being Overcome?” took place: The conference was opened by 

🔹 Artur Sakunts, the chairman of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

🔹  H.E. Mr. Patrik Svensson, Ambassador of Sweden to Armenia

🔹  Anahit Manasyan, the human rights defender of the Republic of Armenia

🔹 Rustam Bakoyan, the acting chairman of the Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia

🔹 Naira Sultanyan, the director of the Democracy Development Foundation  

The conference consisted of 3 panel discussions.  

The 1st-panel discussion was dedicated to the efficiency of torture prevention mechanisms. 

🔹 Nazeli Movsesyan, the coordinator of the Department of Oversight of Defence and Security Sector of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, presented the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of December 7, 2023, in the fight against torture in the Armed Forces. 

🔹 Marieta Temuryan, the coordinator of the Department of Monitoring of Social and Medical Services of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, presented the Recommendations of international structures on the prevention of ill-treatment in psychiatric and care facilities. 

🔹  Nush Ter-Movsisyan, the lawyer of the Legal Department of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor referred to the state of implementation of the recommendations by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe. 

🔹 The first-panel discussion was concluded by Laura Gasparyan, the Head of the Department for Prevention of Torture and Ill-Treatment of the Department of the Office of the Human Rights Defender, who presented the assessments of HRD from the point of view of the national mechanism for the prevention of torture.

For a constructive discussion, representatives from several state bodies of RA made relevant speeches:

🔘 RA Ministry of Justice

🔘 RA Ministry of Defense 

🔘 RA Ministry of Health

🔘 RA Ministry of Internal Affairs

In the 2nd panel discussion, the speakers presented the effectiveness of investigating alarms of torture cases.

Ani Chatinyan, the coordinator of the Legal Department of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor presented the effectiveness of the investigation of torture reports from the perspective of evaluation of ECtHR judgments. 

Araks Melkonyan, the chairperson of the “Protection of Rights without Borders” NGO referred to the incidents of ill-treatment and torture during peaceful assemblies. 

Davit Gyurjyan, the expert of the Law Development and Protection Foundation, presented the impossibility of accessing and appealing materials on cases of ill-treatment and torture that were initiated, then dismissed, and reopened. 

Representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia made responses. 

At the 3rd panel discussion of the conference, Mariam Antonyan, the coordinator of the Department of Legal Analyses and Initiatives of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, presented the institutional and legislative issues of torture prevention. The discussion was concluded by Tigran Dovlatyan, the director of the “Aystegh” Psychology Lab, who addressed the problems of psychological rehabilitation of torture victims and the obligations of the state in rehabilitation. 

The conference was funded by Sweden.