Violations of ECHR and Other Institutions' Requirements Against Goris Deputy Mayors and Municipality Employees: Ombudsman

Representatives of the Human Rights Defender visited the police detention center in Yerevan today to meet with the Goris community leaders Menua Hovhsepian and Irina Yolyan, who were arrested yesterday, as well as two women: the chief specialist in the Social Affairs Department and a specialist in the Financial Department. During the visit, private conversations took place, and the state of rights protection was examined. This was reported by the Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan on his Facebook page.

He specifically noted, “The Goris community officials have been photographed and filmed against their will, with armed and masked police officers present; the details of the visit of the representatives of the Defender were not disclosed to the arrested individuals.”

This morning, representatives from the Office of the Human Rights Defender visited the police detention center in Yerevan, meeting with the Goris community's deputy leaders Menua Hovhsepian and Irina Yolyan, and conducted private conversations to examine the state of rights protection.

As a result of the visit and the discussions, a number of issues relating to internationally guaranteed rights were highlighted:

• In attempting to arrest the Goris community's two deputy mayors and two municipal employees, police officers initially closed all entrances to the municipality building.
• According to the conversations, about 20 masked police officers armed with automatic rifles conducted the arrests of the community service workers and transported them to Yerevan.
• In addition to the mentioned officers, one individual was in civilian clothing and displayed aggressive behavior towards the arrested individuals.
• While transporting all detainees, including three women, the police officers remained masked and armed with automatic rifles throughout the journey.
• During the arrest process, including taking the individuals out of the municipality building and into the vehicle, filming and photographing were conducted. This was done against the detainees' will, including that of the women, one of whom requested the recordings be stopped due to the humiliating manner in which it was done, but the police did not cease filming.
• In response to this request, the police indicated that if one was demanding that, then they would be the first to be filmed.
• All detainees, including three women, reported that their arrest process was conducted in a degrading manner and was purposely done in a way that it could be seen by those present in the municipality and the city's residents.
• The arrest and detaining process was organized so that deprived individuals had no opportunity to call for legal representation.
• The police officers did not allow the use of the right to call (only one of the women was permitted to send a short text message to a family member while in the vehicle) without providing reasoning or justification.
• The Human Rights Defender received complaints from the relatives of some detainees yesterday, indicating that they were unaware of their whereabouts.
• Menua Hovhsepian reported that handcuffs were used on him when being taken out of the building and put in the vehicle, reportedly just for photographing and filming purposes.
• Three of the detainees have minor children. All detainees rejected the charges placed against them, stating that the actions taken against them, including deprivation of liberty, were illegal and executed with violations of their rights.

The Human Rights Defender considers it necessary to record that the actions of the police officers regarding the arrest and detention directly violate the requirements of the European Court of Human Rights, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, and other international institutions. In particular, according to the direct requirements of international law, being masked and armed with automatic rifles is permissible only in exceptional cases, when individuals being detained pose a real threat to the lives of the police officers.

Moreover, the use of masks and handcuffs, and especially the armed presence of 20 police officers with automatic rifles, must be well justified by high standards. The law enforcement bodies must demonstrate the circumstances that justified the involvement and arrest of such a number of masked police officers armed with automatic rifles, who also employed handcuffs and did not disclose their identity during the entire detaining process.

These international requirements hold preventive significance to ensure accountability of law enforcement and to prevent any manifestations of ill-treatment. In this specific case, it involves one man and three women, among whom one is over 65 years of age. It also contradicts the international requirements that the police officers did not identify themselves throughout the arrest process, including during transportation to Yerevan.

For any individual deprived of freedom, the rights to legal counsel and to make calls, as well as the guarantees against ill-treatment, are internationally directly guaranteed minimum guarantees. They aim to protect individuals from illegal persecution and deprivation of freedom during the initial, most risky phases of criminal proceedings, ensuring their fair protection from mechanisms of criminal prosecution employed by the state.

The results of the visit will be summarized and appropriate letters will be addressed to law enforcement bodies.