Armenia is on the brink of serious reforms. This is what Armenia’s Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan said during a discussion devoted to human rights protection.

The Ombudsman stated that he is actively participating in the discussions on reforms and emphasized that the authorities need to listen to public opinion, and experts can help the authorities carry out the reforms effectively.

He recalled that the Office of the Human Rights Defender has been monitoring isolation cells, penitentiary institutions and psychiatric hospitals of places of imprisonment since 2016.

According to Tatoyan, repression and bad attitude at closed institutions may be in forms other than beating and physical influence.

“There is no individual approach to persons deprived of liberty. We recommend being guided by the presumption of trust in a person. One of the major problems is that there is no work being done for the release of a prisoner,” he said.

Talking about the ban on visits and phone calls, the Ombudsman said this practice deepens the situation.

The Ombudsman also said amnesty is periodically declared in order to discharge penitentiary institutions and due to problems with early release.

According to him, there are serious problems with voluntary and compulsory treatment. Currently, anyone can complain about someone and be taken to the compulsory treatment department. The Ombudsman brought up the example of a healthy girl who was taken to a psychiatric hospital and released after the interference of the Ombudsman.

According to the existing practice, the opinion of a minor is not considered, and this also needs to change.