Two Criminal Cases Involving Torture of Citizens by Police Officers Sent to Court: Prosecutor's Office

The investigation into two incidents of violence against citizens by police officers has been completed at the Special Investigative Service of the Republic of Armenia. Regarding one of these cases, charges have been brought against three operatives of the criminal detective division of the Nor Nork police department in Yerevan under parts 1 and 4 of Article 309.1 of the RA Criminal Code for the reason that on September 6, 2020, at 01:00, they unlawfully detained resident V. O. of Yerevan and his acquaintance, weightlifter A. Gh., and tortured them in order to punish them for their actions.

Specifically, after a dispute occurred between a seller at the "Dreamland" design shop and a customer, one of the operatives, who is the husband of the seller, along with two colleagues, forcibly placed her and A. Gh., who had come with her, into a vehicle and arrested them without proper justification. Instead of a record of "detention," they provided records of "presentation to the police department," falsely claiming in the record concerning A. Gh. that he was involved in the dispute, despite having no connection to it.

Subsequently, with the intent to punish for a dispute with his wife and alleged physical assault towards her, T. A., along with the aforementioned two operatives and other unidentified officers, demonstrated a collective intent to torture them. They struck V. O. and A. Gh. multiple times with their fists and hands in various areas of their bodies while cursing at them in different offices of the police department. They have been detained as a preventive measure.

In the other criminal case initiated on August 27, 2020, charges have been filed against three inspectors of the patrol police of the RA police under part 2 of Article 309 of the RA Criminal Code for their unlawful actions due to their decision to physically assault a citizen and his brother who arrived to retrieve their vehicle from a specified area, where they were reportedly under the influence of alcohol and insulted police officers.

After the approval of the accusatory conclusions by the Department of Oversight of Legal Proceedings of the RA Prosecutor General’s Office, the mentioned criminal cases have been sent to the court of general jurisdiction in Yerevan for substantive examination. A total of 142 criminal cases for violations of Article 309.1 and part 2 of Article 309 of the RA Criminal Code were initiated during 2020. Out of these, six cases involving 12 individuals (two criminal cases under Article 309.1 involving four individuals, and four criminal cases under part 2 of Article 309 involving eight individuals) have been sent to court with an accusatory conclusion.

For comparison, during 2019, five criminal cases involving eight individuals were sent to court with accusatory conclusions for illegal detention, torture, and other brutal and inhuman treatment by officials, while in 2018, three criminal cases involving four individuals were similarly sent to court. The increase is attributed to improvements in the rate of detection of such crimes (including past occurrences) and the efficient policy of the RA Prosecutor's Office to systematically ensure legal assessments of these cases through due legal processes.

Note: An individual suspected or charged with a crime is considered innocent until proven guilty by a court judgment that has entered into legal force, in accordance with the procedures established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the RA.