Gyumri mayor`s defense team to appeal to European Committee for   Prevention of Torture 

ArmInfo.  The defense teams of Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan is planning to submit a complaint to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), as well as to the UN Committee Against Torture, regarding the attempt to obstruct his  lawyer's meeting with his client. Arnold Vardanyan, one of Vardan  Ghukasyan's lawyers,  shared this information on his Facebook page.

 Vardanyan was previously denied entry to the Yerevan Kentron  penitentiary to meet with his client.  Today, he says, he was finally  able to enter the prison and see Ghukasyan without  having to send  any letters. Vardanyan believes that the issue of ensuring lawyers'  access to closed institutions is being artificially created, and that  everyone consistently avoids addressing it. He mentioned that a  similar problem was documented in the UN Committee against Torture's  fifth periodic report on Armenia, adopted on April 29, 2025, and  discussed by a delegation from the Armenian Ministry of Justice on  April 15.

Regarding one of the reasons for denying him access to his  client-namely, the claim that he is not representing Ghukasyan in the  "main case"-the lawyer recalled international standards and  fundamental principles regarding the role of lawyers. "According to  the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the  Professional Activity of Lawyers, its interpretation, and the  decision of the European Court of Human Rights, unimpeded visits  between a lawyer and their client are directly guaranteed, even  without any judicial status," Vardanyan clarified.