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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH CALLS TO END ABUSE OF ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION

Official

Parliamentary Election Must be Kept Free of Arbitrary Arrests

There must be no repeat of the mass arrests that marred Armenia’s recent presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. Armenia’s parliamentary elections are slated to take place May 25.

Human Rights Watch documents the arbitrary arrest of hundreds of opposition activists during the presidential elections, the abuse of the Soviet-era Code of Administrative Offenses to justify the arrests, and the disabling impact the arrests had on the opposition’s campaign. Human Rights Watch also called for urgent reform of Armenia’s flawed administrative justice system.

“The Armenian authorities use the outdated code on punishing public order misdemeanors as a tool of political repression,” said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. “This weekend’s elections will be a test of their will to stop this practice.”

More than a hundred opposition activists were given prison sentences of up to fifteen days in February and March under the code, for attending, or allegedly misbehaving at, rallies that the authorities arbitrarily deemed “unauthorized.” Police denied them access to counsel, and judges tried them in closed, cursory hearings at which defendants were denied attorneys, the opportunity to present evidence, and their right to appeal.

In March, the Council of Europe reiterated its call for reform of the code, and condemned the administrative detentions as “a misuse of law.” On April 16, the Armenian Constitutional Court declared the arrests unlawful, and recognized the impact they had on the election.

The Council of Justice, a judicial oversight body headed by President Robert Kocharian, rejected the court’s instruction to review the conduct of judges who had issued the administrative detention sentences. In an April 23 resolution condemned by a prominent Armenian rights group as “ordered up” by the authorities, another oversight body, the Council of Court Chairmen, concluded that the administrative detention sentences had been, “on the whole, legal and well-grounded.”

“The authorities appear determined to retain an administrative detention option for the forthcoming elections, and that’s deeply troubling,” said Andersen.