Epress.am News from Armenia
Charged with committing a series of burglaries in September 2011, David Galstyan has submitted an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the police use of violence while in custody. This news was conveyed to Epress.am by Galstyan's lawyer, Stepan Voskanyan. Recall, Galstyan cut his wrist with a sharp object while in court on July 23.
"In terms of the violence, we have exhausted all court levels here [in Armenia]. We were unable to achieve criminal cases being launched against those who committed the acts of violence; it was specifically stated who we were referring to, but no steps were taken. Also as a result of that was the death of one of the defendants, which likewise contained violence. All the defendants have serious health problems; they have incurred health, moral, and physical damages," said the attorney.
According to him, the last attempt at self-mutilation was an act of protest, as well as proving that there can be no expectation of holding a fair trial.
"We intended to appeal to the ECtHR from the beginning regarding the violence and torture applied to David, but we had to exhaust all the court levels [in Armenia]," concluded Voskanyan.
Last week, the attorney informed Epress.am that his client harmed himself in court because hearing the prosecutor read a testimony he did not give, Galstyan relived all the torture which was applied to him.
Earlier, Galstyan read a statement in court concerning the torture applied to him [in Armenian only].