Electric shock, severe beatings and other inhuman treatment…
Armenia's Human Rights Defender has written a letter to Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan regarding torture and inhuman treatment in prisons and police
"Honorable Prime Minister,
The Human Rights Defender's staff, as a National Preventive Mechanism against Torture, together with a number of non-governmental organisations, is conducting monitoring in penitentiary institutions, military units, police institutions and other detention facilities. During the March-April, 2012, more than 30 visits have been conducted to the mentioned closed and semi-closed institutions.
Visits identified a number of continuous problems, which received no adequate response for their elimination by the appropriate bodies. The terms of keeping called, detained or arrested people in Police departments were often violated. Monitors registered many cases of ill-treatment by the Police officers towards detainees, particularly, psychological pressure, use of electric shock, severe beatings and other inhuman treatment. This information was communicated to the NPM monitors by the detainees. In certain cases detained people in Police departments were deprived of the right to have a defender. Complaints were registered about violations of terms of reporting about the detention to the relatives of detainees.
Proper medical examination was not regularly performed in detention facilities. There were cases when physical injuries of detainees were not registered by the medical staff. In many cases the medical service had not been sufficient. In particular medical staff is not complete; there is a lack of appropriate medical equipments and required medicines. There were also cases of improper completion of medical records. Overcrowding in certain prisons was up to 50%. Cells are overloaded. 12 beds in cells are foreseen for 15-16 persons, and detainees sleep by turn.
Living conditions in psychiatric hospitals are extremely poor. Also inadequate conditions were registered in several military units. Non-regulated medical assistance is performed in orphanages, special schools and retirement homes.
Seeking for your intervention in the solution of the abovementioned issues in terms of giving appropriate instructions to the RA Police, RA Ministry of Justice, RA Ministry of Health Care, RA Ministry of Defence and other competent authorities, as well as presenting to public the performance of the instructions given by you to those bodies.
Hereinafter, information obtained as a result of monitorings will be submitted to you in brief through quarterly reports.
Please find attached a detailed Outcome Document of visits conducted by the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture during May-April months of 2012."
