News Flash
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on
Armenia
Strasbourg, 13.12.2007 – The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention
of Torture (CPT) has today published the report
on its second periodic visit to Armenia in April 2006, together with the
Armenian authorities’ response. Both documents
have been made public at the request of the Armenian Government.
In the light of the information gathered during the visit, the CPT has
maintained its assessment that persons deprived of their liberty by the police
in Armenia run a significant risk of being ill-treated. The Committee has called
upon the Armenian authorities to deliver to all police staff a strong message,
emanating from the highest political level, that the ill-treatment of detained
persons is illegal and will be dealt with severely. Further, the Committee has
made several recommendations aimed at strengthening the formal safeguards
against ill-treatment and at improving screening for injuries and police
complaints procedures. At the same time, the CPT has welcomed the ongoing
refurbishment programme concerning police holding areas.
No allegations of ill-treatment by staff were received at Vanadzor Prison.
However, several such allegations were received at the Nubarashen Prison’s unit
for life-sentenced prisoners, as well as at Goris Prison. As for Abovyan Prison,
the delegation received a few isolated allegations of physical ill-treatment.
The CPT has recommended that staff working at the above-mentioned prisons be
given a clear message that physical ill-treatment of inmates is not acceptable
and will be dealt with severely.
The CPT has noted the measures taken to put in place a new legal framework
for imprisonment, as well as the considerable decrease in the prison population
and the Government’s extensive programme of refurbishment of the prison estate.
However, the Committee has expressed concern about the insufficient progress
towards providing purposeful activities to prisoners, including lifers. As
regards prison health care, there has been some progress since the 2002 visit,
in particular with respect to the detection and treatment of tuberculosis.
At Sevan Psychiatric Hospital, most of the patients interviewed by the
delegation spoke positively of the attitude of health-care staff. However,
patients were accommodated in cramped, austere and impersonal dormitories.
Further, the psychiatric treatment was based almost exclusively on
pharmacotherapy; the range of other therapeutic options was underdeveloped. The
2006 visit provided the first opportunity for the CPT to assess the legal
safeguards applicable to civil hospitalisation under the new Law on Psychiatric
Assistance. It became clear that these new safeguards were not yet well known
and effectively applied by staff at Sevan Psychiatric Hospital.
In their response, the Armenian authorities provide information on the steps
being taken to address the issues raised by the CPT. For example, recent
amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure make clear that the period of
police custody runs as from the very moment when a person is deprived of his/her
liberty by the police, and that the legal safeguards against ill-treatment apply
as from that moment. The response also contains detailed information about legal
developments in respect of the prison system, as well as on the efforts being
made to expand and modernise the prison estate. Regarding psychiatric
establishments, the Armenian authorities provide information on the ongoing
refurbishment of Sevan Psychiatric Hospital and on the progress with respect to
the therapeutic and rehabilitative activities in that establishment.
The CPT’s visit report and the
response of the Armenian Government are
available in English on the CPT’s website:
http://www.cpt.coe.int .
- A "CPT Video-kit" is available for the audiovisual press. For more details
please access our page "For the press".
