Epress.am News from Armenia
A. M., a resident of Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri, claims that in 2015 he was subjected to months of unwarranted police persecution, however, to this day, no one has been held responsible for it. As reported by the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor office, A. M. was detained in a three-hour custody on April 20, 2015, by officers of the Mush division of Gyumri Police. The citizen was released after having been questioned “as part of a murder investigation that had occurred in Gyumri on April 18.” While in custody, police seized the detainee's passport and promised to return it the next day; however, the document remained with the law enforcement officials for nearly 8 months.
In June-July of the same year, the citizen was detained again; police raided his and his relatives homes, confiscated valuables and never returned them. A.M. told HCAV that law enforcement did not provide him any information on his status of either a suspect or an accused, subjecting him to months of illegal harassment, unfounded interrogations, accompanied by degrading treatment. Police also reportedly urged the man to plead guilty to the murder, promising to in return send him abroad for 5 years.
The human rights activists note that police officers exceeded their legal powers and violated a number of provisions of Armenia's Criminal-procedure code by subjected a witness to unlawful examinations, interrogations, as well as confiscating his documents and other personal belongings.
In December, 2015, HCAV filed appeal letters with the office of the Armenian General Prosecutor, and the Special Investigation Service, demanding that authorities identify those responsible for A.M.'s harassment and bring them to justice, as well as take measures to restore the citizen's violated rights.
On January 25, 2016, HCAV received a reply from the Police's department of internal security which recognized the actions of the competent authorities to be unfounded. However, according to the response, the officer responsible for the offense was not liable to disciplinary penalty since it was “his first offense of this nature.”
Law enforcement subsequently returned the citizen's passport and assured he would have no problems in the future travelling abroad. However, when A.M. tried to leave the country for work several days later, he was stopped by police and forced to sign a commitment to appear in the Mush division.
“A.M. claims that under the pretext of signing a commitment, law enforcement wanted to pressure the citizen into withdrawing his complaint against the police's illegal activities,” HCAV reports.