The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published a report as a result the 4th periodic visit to Armenia.
The visit provided an opportunity to assess the measures taken by the Armenian authorities in response to the recommendations made by the Committee after previous visits.
In this connection, particular attention was paid to the safeguards against ill-treatment of persons in police custody and the material conditions, regime and health care service in prisons. The delegation also visited psychiatric establishments in order to examine the treatment and legal safeguards offered to patients hospitalised on an involuntary basis.
The Committee called upon the Armenian authorities to significantly reinforce the Special Investigation Service (SIS) in terms of operational staff, thereby removing its need to rely on local police officers, and to ensure that all formal complaints about police ill-treatment as well as all cases in which other information indicative of ill-treatment by the police has emerged, are promptly forwarded to and processed by the SIS.
The delegation visited for the first time Armavir and Vanadzor prisons and paid follow-up visits to Nubarashen Prison, Yerevan-Kentron Prison and the Central Prison Hospital.
The report said there was no longer any overcrowding at the national level, but the fact remained that some establishments (especially Nubarashen Prison) were overcrowded. In this context, the CPT noted the various legislative and organisational measures (both already taken and planned) to combat prison overcrowding, and strongly encouraged the Armenian authorities to pursue them.
It was also clear that corruption remained a problem in the Armenian prison system, and the Committee called upon the Armenian authorities to step up their efforts to combat this phenomenon.
In a response to the report the Armenian government expressed its commitment and readiness for providing the fullest cooperation to the CPT both in terms of steps taken to facilitate the task of visiting delegation and of measures undertaken in response to the CPT’s recommendations.
The Armenian authorities said they value the constructive dialogue established with the committee and assure that particular attention is paid to all the recommendations and comments submitted.
