ArmInfo.Armenia's Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan`s annual report has been published.
The report, in particular, refers to a gross violation of the rights of participants of the spring protest actions of 2018 in Armenia. According to the report, extremely disproportionate administrative measures and unjustified arrests were taken against activists.
<During the democratic processes in the country in the spring of 2018, Armenian citizens had an opportunity thanks to free implementation of their will to ensure such fundamental changes that directly affect the life of every citizen, "the report says.
According to the document, the peaceful nature of the actions significantly prevented large-scale clashes and violence in the process of civil disobedience.
During the operational round-the-clock work, the Ombudsman's office these days recorded violations in the actions of the Police. In particular, the matter concerns gross violations of the minimum rights of persons deprived of their liberty in the proceedings on an administrative offense (including access to a lawyer and a doctor, etc.). According to the report, there were and there are problems in the legislative system of administrative detention. "This system needs a fundamental revision," the document says.
The Ombudsman, in particular, explains the recorded violations by the lack of organizational and human resources of the Police. However, in his opinion, this in no way can be an excuse for the behavior of law enforcement officers, and subsequently such manifestations should be excluded.
In the opinion of the human rights defender, the actions of the Police should have been aimed at excluding any unjustified interference with the freedom of peaceful actions, and not at isolating the citizens participating in them.
The report stresses that in the departments of the Police in the framework of the administrative offense against minors there were gross violations of their rights, including due to the lack of special procedures for the treatment and deprivation of their liberty.
The report stresses that in many cases administrative arrest was used to ensure the involvement of the person in the criminal proceedings and thereby prolonging his stay in the department, which is extremely unacceptable and should be excluded subsequently.
"Thus, in fact, there was a mechanism for presenting a person in the status of a witness to the preliminary investigation body with a view to his further administrative detention, bypassing the criminal procedure requirements," concludes the human rights defender.