There is an arbitrary rule of the officials in Armenia and the average citizen is not secured. The ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan stated in “Hayeli” club. He said that the number of complaints to the Ombudsman’s office have increased as compared to the last year. The Ombudsman office has received 1768 letters of complaints in 2008, whereas this year – 1833, at that the number of from vulnerable groups’ complaints increased for 127%.

Most appeals are about police, Ministry of Education and Science, City Hall, courts and Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Armen Harutyunyan pointed concrete facts of arbitrary rule by the officials and lack of seriousness. For example they got a complaint about Marash district cadastre and addressed the issue. The officers of the latter told ombudsman they are ready to give information for cash. “This is already a theatre of absurd. People do not even attempt to read the law,” said Harutyunayan. The RA Police Vice-Chief Hovhannes Hunanyan, responding to the complaint brought about him, said that there was no complaint and the facts are not true. “If there was no complaint, where all these facts come from?” — Harutyunyan wonders.

The ombudsman’s task group visited police departments, detention cells and discovered that at least 57 people were kept illegally for a longer term. “The Government should consider this as an alert,” Harutyunyan stated.