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HRW: World Report 2013 - Armenia

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  • HRW: World Report 2013 - Armenia

    Human Rights Watch

    World Report 2013

    Armenia

    Armenia's ruling coalition retained a parliamentary majority following
    the May 2012 elections amid allegations of abuse of administrative
    resources, and intimidation of voters, observers, and
    journalists. Ill-treatment in police custody persists. The government
    has yet to offer conscientious objectors a genuine civilian
    alternative to military service and has failed to effectively
    investigate a troubling number of non-combat deaths in the military.

    Politically motivated defamation lawsuits no longer appear to be a
    problem, but media pluralism is lacking, and some journalists
    coveringthe May 6 parliamentary elections suffered violent attacks by
    onlookers, some of them members of Armenia's ruling political
    party. Violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation are
    serious problems. Bureaucratic restrictions prevent people with
    terminal illnesses from accessing strong pain medications.
    Parliamentary Elections

    The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE)
    monitoring report assessed the May 6 parliamentary elections as
    competitive and largely peaceful, yet marred by`an unequal playing
    field' due to misuse of administrative resources, and party
    representatives and local authorities pressuring voters, interfering
    in voting, and hindering the work of journalists.

    Several violent incidents occurred during the campaign period in
    Yerevan, including assaults on opposition party Armenian National
    Congress (ANC) candidate Babken Garoyan and three other ANC members on
    April 15, and on ANC candidate Karen Tovmasyan on April 17. In both
    cases, the ANC members were distributing campaign information. Police
    opened investigations into each case.

    Helsinki Association campaign monitor Arman Veziryan filed complaints
    alleging that Yerevan resident Tigran Manukyan punched him and
    hindered his work as an observer while Veziryan observed an opposition
    activist distributing election pamphlets on April 30. Instead of
    investigating, prosecutors pressured Veziryan to withdraw the
    complaint and in June charged him with beating Manukyan, although
    Manukyan never claimed to be a victim. Veziryan was awaiting trial at
    this writing.

    Torture and Ill-Treatment in Custody

    According to local human rights defenders, torture and ill-treatment
    in police custody persist. Authorities often refuse to investigate
    ill-treatment allegations or coerce citizens into retracting
    complaints. The October report of the European Committee for the
    Prevention of Torture (CPT) on a follow-up visit in December 2011
    noted overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, and inadequate medical care
    in two prison facilities. CPT also noted that it received no new cases
    of ill-treatment from these facilities in 2012.

    The government has not effectively investigated a complaint from seven
    ANC activists that police beat them in detention in August 2011. The
    activists' lawyers also filed a complaints alleging police denied them
    access to their clients, refused their request for a medical
    examination for the activists, and briefly detained the lawyers for
    seven hours. The activists testified about the abuse during trial, but
    a Yerevan court did not request an investigation.

    In July, the court sentenced four of the activists-Karapetyan, Tigran
    Arakelyan, Sargis Gevorgyan, and David Kiramijyan=80'to two to six
    years' imprisonment for hooliganism and resisting authority. In
    November, the appeals court upheld their sentences. In August, police
    dropped charges against the other three for lack of evidence.

    In October, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)ruled that
    Armenia had violated the prohibition against inhuman or degrading
    treatment in the case of opposition party member Grisha Virabyan when
    police repeatedly hit him in the testicles with metal objects after
    detaining him following demonstrations in 2004. The court denounced
    the authorities' failure to effectively investigate. Army Abuses

    Local human rights groups reported 44 non-combat army deaths through
    November. On February 29, conscript Tigran Varyan was killed by a
    gunshot wound. The government-mandated autopsy revealed that Varyan
    was subject to violence, but investigators classified his death as
    suicide. A report by local human rights groups noted the Defense
    Ministry's failure to initiate investigations promptly, to account for
    signs of violence in cases of alleged suicides, and to disclose the
    circumstances of many deaths.

    A January ECtHR ruling found Armenia had violated the right to
    religious freedom of two Jehovah's Witnesses by imprisoning them for
    refusing to perform mandatory military service in 2003.

    According to Forum 18, an international religious freedom
    nongovernmental organization, 32 conscientious objectors were in
    prison as of September 20 for refusing military and alternative
    service, believing the alternative service was not independent of the
    military. In 2012, courts sentenced to prison terms 16 additional
    Jehovah's Witnesses for refusal to serve. The sentences were not
    enforced.

    In 2011, authorities proposed amendments to the alternative service
    law. However, the OSCE and the Council of Europe (CoE) criticized the
    amendments for not making alternative service truly independent of the
    military and for making it 12-18 months longer than military
    service. In its July review of Armenia, the United Nations Human
    Rights Committee (HRC) urged the government to ensure a real
    alternative to military service, and release those imprisoned for
    refusing to perform military service or the existing alternative to
    it.

    Freedom of Expression

    Politically motivated defamation lawsuits no longer appear to be a
    serious problem.However, a June 2012 Parliamentary Assembly of the
    Council of Europe (PACE) report on media freedom in Europe found
    Armenian journalists' capacity to report was `hampered by pressures of
    self-censorship' and expressed concern about television stations' use
    of material from political advertisements in news coverage.

    At least two journalists suffered attacks while covering the May
    elections. In Yerevan, a man punched Elina Chilingaryan as she filmed
    a bus arriving at a polling station,knocking her camera to the
    ground. Police brought charges against the assailant for interfering
    with the professional duties of a journalist. They later dropped the
    charges, claiming that Chilingaryan was not performing her
    professional duties at the time of the attack since she was not
    wearing her press badge. The authorities did not bring separate
    assault charges.

    In Gyumri, four unidentified men approached journalist Karen Alekyan
    at a polling station, ripped off his press badge, and broke his
    camera. Alekyan filed a complaint. The investigation was ongoing at
    this writing.

    Palliative Care

    Armenia's complicated and time-consuming prescription and procurement
    procedures for opioid medications obstruct the delivery of adequate
    palliative care. UNstatistics from 2009-2010 suggest that
    approximately 7,000 people die annually in Armenia from cancer and
    HIV/AIDS.However, analysis of strong pain medicine consumption
    suggests only about 600 patients with moderate to severe pain gained
    access in 2012 to adequate pain relief during the last stages of their
    illness.

    Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

    In July, the NGO Public Information and Need of Knowledge (PINK)
    Armenia reported that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)
    people experience employment discrimination, obstacles accessing
    healthcare, and physical and psychological abuse in the army, in
    families, and in public.

    On May 8, unidentified people threw a homemade bomb at DIY, a Yerevan
    bar frequented by LGBT and women's rights activists. Graffiti
    identified LGBT people as targets. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Eduard
    Sharmazanov called the attack =80=9Cright and justified.' Police
    arrested two suspects who were released pending trial. Unidentified
    attackers destroyed bar property and made death threats against its
    owners in three subsequent May incidents. Police were called during
    each attack but intervened only once.

    On May 21 in Yerevan, a group of people threatened violence and
    shouted homophobic slogans at participants in a march organized by
    PINK Armenia and the Women's Resource Center Armenia to celebrate
    diversity. Human Rights Defenders

    In April, about 200 people gathered outside the human rights
    nongovernmental Helsinki Citizens' Assembly's (HCA) Vanadzor office,
    throwing eggs and stones, breaking windows, and threatening staff with
    further violence if films made by Azerbaijani filmmakers were screened
    as planned. The group dispersed after HCA leaders agreed to cancel the
    films. As the crowed assembled HCA staff called the police, who failed
    to intervene.

    In April, a court rejected a lawsuit by Lernapat Mayor Vano
    Yeghiazaryan against Artur Sakunts, head of HCA Vanadzor. In a 2011
    newspaper interview Sakunts accused Yeghiazaryan of embezzlement and
    abuse of power. The court concluded that Yeghiazaryan, as a public
    official, `must be more tolerant towards opinions and publications
    relating to him.'

    Key International Actors

    In its May European Neighborhood Policy Progress Report, the European
    Commission urged Armenia to address corruption, media freedom, low
    public trust in the judiciary, and inadequate investigation of
    ill-treatment. It commended the government for strengthening laws on
    gender equality and health care.

    European Union foreign ministers' conclusions on the South Caucasus
    adopted in February at the Foreign Affairs council in Brussels
    highlighted the importance of free and fair elections and further
    judiciary reforms, political pluralism, freedom of and equal access to
    media, and protection of human rights defenders.

    In his July visit to Yerevan, EU President Herman Van Rompuy welcomed
    Armenian authorities' efforts to deliver more competitive and
    transparent parliamentary elections, but cautioned that February 2013
    presidential elections should be more democratic.

    Following its July review of Armenia's compliance with the
    International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the HRC
    highlighted a host of concerns, including lack of comprehensive
    antidiscrimination legislation, violence against racial and religious
    minorities and LGBT people, discrimination and violence against women,
    lack of accountability for torture, and threats and attacks against
    rights defenders.

    In May, the UN Office in Armenia condemned violence and intolerance
    based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The EU Delegation to
    Armenia and the CoE's European Commission against Racism and
    Intolerance expressed concern over Armenia's inadequate response to
    anti-LGBT hate speech and violence.

    In a new strategy for Armenia adopted in May, the European Bank for
    Reconstruction and Development stressed the need for `further steps'
    such as police and judiciary reform and facilitating media pluralism.




    From: A. Papazian
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