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OPEN LETTER TO ARMENIAN POLICE HEAD ON LEVON GULYAN'S DEATH
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[06:57 pm] 18 May, 2007
Dear Mr. Harutyunyan;
I am writing to you on behalf of the International Helsinki Federation
for Human Rights (IHF) to express our concern over the 12 May 2007
death of Mr. Levon Gulyan in policy custody, and to respectfully
ask you to ensure that all the circumstances leading to his death be
investigated thoroughly and independently.
According to information available to the IHF, Mr. Gulyan, a Yerevan
restaurant owner, was arrested after having witnessed a shooting in
the vicinity of his restaurant on 9 May 2007. It is our understanding
that he was not arrested as a suspect but as a witness to the
crime. Mr. Gulyan was reportedly questioned on several occasions
between 9 and 12 May, with the last interrogation reportedly taking
place on the Police Headquarters, where Mr. Gulyan died on 12 May.
According to an official announcement, Mr. Gulyan died after having
tried to escape by jumping from a third-floor window, or by committing
suicide. This explanation has been vehemently rejected by Mr. Gulyan's
family and questioned by local human rights monitors who suspect that
Mr. Gulyan died as a result of police ill-treatment; the family claims
that Mr. Gulyan was beaten already upon his arrest and had bruises
on his body after returning from the previous police hearings.
The IHF finds such suspicions legitimate especially in light of a
past record of suspicious cases of death in police custody in Armenia
and the fact that torture and ill-treatment by the police remain
serious problems, as noted also by the European Committee for the
Prevention of Torture in its 2004 report on Armenia and reported
by the IHF affiliated organizations in your country. Armenia has
ratified the UN Convention against Torture, which requires that all
alleged cases of torture be investigated promptly and impartially
(article 12). Article 290 of the Armenian Criminal Procedure Code
provides for the same obligation. I would therefore respectfully
ask you to ensure that an independent investigation be immediately
conducted into the death of Levon Gulyan, and its results be made
public. Should evidence of police involvement in Mr. Gulyan's death
be found, I urge you to make sure that the suspected perpetrators are
charged, brought before a court of law, and are adequately punished.
Yours respectfully,
Aaron Rhodes
Executive Director
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)
A1+
[06:57 pm] 18 May, 2007
Dear Mr. Harutyunyan;
I am writing to you on behalf of the International Helsinki Federation
for Human Rights (IHF) to express our concern over the 12 May 2007
death of Mr. Levon Gulyan in policy custody, and to respectfully
ask you to ensure that all the circumstances leading to his death be
investigated thoroughly and independently.
According to information available to the IHF, Mr. Gulyan, a Yerevan
restaurant owner, was arrested after having witnessed a shooting in
the vicinity of his restaurant on 9 May 2007. It is our understanding
that he was not arrested as a suspect but as a witness to the
crime. Mr. Gulyan was reportedly questioned on several occasions
between 9 and 12 May, with the last interrogation reportedly taking
place on the Police Headquarters, where Mr. Gulyan died on 12 May.
According to an official announcement, Mr. Gulyan died after having
tried to escape by jumping from a third-floor window, or by committing
suicide. This explanation has been vehemently rejected by Mr. Gulyan's
family and questioned by local human rights monitors who suspect that
Mr. Gulyan died as a result of police ill-treatment; the family claims
that Mr. Gulyan was beaten already upon his arrest and had bruises
on his body after returning from the previous police hearings.
The IHF finds such suspicions legitimate especially in light of a
past record of suspicious cases of death in police custody in Armenia
and the fact that torture and ill-treatment by the police remain
serious problems, as noted also by the European Committee for the
Prevention of Torture in its 2004 report on Armenia and reported
by the IHF affiliated organizations in your country. Armenia has
ratified the UN Convention against Torture, which requires that all
alleged cases of torture be investigated promptly and impartially
(article 12). Article 290 of the Armenian Criminal Procedure Code
provides for the same obligation. I would therefore respectfully
ask you to ensure that an independent investigation be immediately
conducted into the death of Levon Gulyan, and its results be made
public. Should evidence of police involvement in Mr. Gulyan's death
be found, I urge you to make sure that the suspected perpetrators are
charged, brought before a court of law, and are adequately punished.
Yours respectfully,
Aaron Rhodes
Executive Director
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)