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Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on Armenia

19 March 2010 16:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published the report on its ad hoc visit to Armenia in March 2008. The main purpose of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons detained in relation to events which followed the Presidential election of 19 February 2008. In the aftermath of the election, on 1 March 2008, a police operation took place aimed at dispersing opposition rallies in Yerevan. Dozens of persons were arrested in the course of and following that operation, hundreds were injured and a number of persons died.
The delegation carried out individual interviews with most of the persons remanded in custody on charges related to the post-election events. Practically all the persons who had been detained on 1 March 2008 alleged that they had been physically ill-treated at the time of their apprehension, even though they apparently had not offered resistance. The delegation also received a few allegations of physical ill-treatment at the time of questioning by the police.
The CPT has made recommendations on the basis of results of the visit.