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The Police Try "To Meet Their Target" And Continue Tortures

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  • The Police Try "To Meet Their Target" And Continue Tortures

    THE POLICE TRY "TO MEET THEIR TARGET" AND CONTINUE TORTURES

    April 1 2013

    The Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Norwegian Helsinki Committee
    (NHC), and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) have
    put forward a mid-term assessment, which was prepared within the scope
    of recommendations undertaken by Armenia during its Universal Periodic
    Review by the United Nations Human Rights Council in May 2010. The
    report puts forward the practice of implementing those recommendations
    by the Armenian legal system and state bodies. The report reads:
    "The routine practice of torture and ill-treatment, especially in
    police custody, continues unabated. Victims of torture do not file
    official complaints fearing retaliation, and perpetrators are not
    held accountable for such acts." Artur Sakunts, the head of Helsinki
    Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office, stated during a conversation
    with www.aravot.am that their researches also testified to the same
    phenomenon. Talking about the reasons, he said: "The main reason is
    that the Special Investigative Service (SIS) doesn't properly examine
    the reports on the police's ill-treating citizens, the courts don't
    give a legal assessment to those cases of ill-treatment either. The
    other is a structural problem. There is the internal security
    service of the police, which conducts internal investigation into
    the police officers' actions based on the citizens' reports. It is
    a police unit, which means that there is no independent mechanism of
    complaining. In this issue, the prosecutor's office, which conducts
    investigation into such cases and doesn't pay proper attention, also
    plays an important role." We inquired whether even the fact that a
    campaign of disseminating love for the police among society had started
    didn't contribute to normalization of the situation. Even videos have
    been shot. In this regard, A. Sakunts recalled the cases of Samvel
    Tonoyan, a detective, and Sargis Martirosyan, the head of the Kentron
    Department of the Police, when a police officer was not punished for
    misconduct, but was encouraged with promotion. Then he noted: "It is
    a fact that there is a big divide between the real and publicized
    actions of the police, and from this perspective, the commercials
    are not ads, but rather are of absolutely different kind. Therefore,
    it cannot increase trust; on the contrary, the distrust of the system
    deepens. Certainly, some cosmetic changes in the system have been
    made. For example, women are involved in maintaining public order,
    which is important at first sight. However, when pickets or marches
    are organized, where the majority is girls, there is no girl among the
    accompanying police officers, and there is inadequate use of force. In
    such cases, the police perform their functions by using force, and
    the commercials cannot have a significant impact." Nina Karapetyants,
    a lawyer of the Helsinki Citizens' Association, doesn't see progress
    either. During a conversation with us, she stated: "Perhaps the reason
    is impunity. Perhaps that situation benefits the government; it is
    in the interests of the government that the police are an instrument
    in the government's hands to punish some people. On the other hand,
    the police are required to make reports with numbers. No one is
    concerned about the real state of affairs. As a result, charges are
    laid against people who have nothing to do with the crime. They pursue
    a Soviet policy of percentage targets, as well as carry out a political
    instruction; classic examples of that are cases of Arshaluys Hakobyan,
    Arman Veziryan, and March 1." Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

    Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/04/01/153315/

    © 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia

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