ArmInfo. Fair justice does not end beyond the gates of the prison. Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan stated on June 26 in Yerevan at an event timed to the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
According to him, the person should have the right to receive answers to his questions and after the announcement of the verdict, including, and to have the opportunity to ask questions of concern to those who testified in court against him, and there are a lot of problems in Armenia with this. Tatoyan noted that there are many problems with regard to the provision of long visits to arrested persons, the provision of proper medical services. "Armenia has serious problems with proper social security of penitentiary staff, as well as serious problems with the provision of professional staff in closed institutions." In Armenia, as a whole, the deficit of professional personnel grows into a global problem," Tatoyan said.
At the same time, the Ombudsman of Armenia noted that the issue of improper conditions for prisoners in penitentiary institutions is often raised, but people forget that the employees of these institutions spend their entire day there, and therefore, are at the same risk as the prisoners.
Tatoyan stressed that all of the above issues should be in the center of attention both of the Ombudsman's office and of the proper state structures. He also noted the importance of retraining the staff. "In our actions, we must be guided by the principle of" Do no harm," concluded the human rights defender.
The executive director of the NGO "Against legal arbitrariness" Larisa Alaverdyan expressed her belief that Armenia as the first country that adopted Christianity as a state religion should completely abandon the practice of violence in penitentiary institutions. "Armenia must do more in this area than it is envisaged by various international conventions, we must eradicate ill-treatment wherever it is applied and next year we will record achievements." We will continue the fight against torture against the citizens of Armenia and Karabakh," Alaverdyan.
According to the conducted researches, in the period from 2014 to 2018 in the penitentiary institutions of Armenia, 2331 cases of self-torture attempts were recorded, in the period from 2008 to 2018 - 38 cases of suicides.