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15 November 2000
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CAT
25th session
15 November 2000
Afternoon
Officials Tell Committee against Torture about Varying Periods
of Detention and Custody, Prison Conditions
A six-member Government delegation from Armenia, responding to questions put to it Tuesday by the Committee against Torture, said this afternoon that periods of detention or custody following arrest under different procedures could be for seven days, 96 hours, three days, three hours, fifteen days, two months, or -- in complex matters and on approval of a court -- one year.
All persons detained were entitled to the services of a lawyer, and relatives had to be notified within 12 hours, the delegation said.
The officials also said Armenian prisons were overcrowded and suffered from shortages of resources, but that steps were being taken to deal with such difficulties, including the construction of a special hospital for prisoners suffering from tuberculosis. And they said steps had been taken to reduce difficulties related to the "hazing" of army recruits.
The delegation introduced Armenia's second periodic report to the Committee on Tuesday morning and took note of a long series of questions put by the panel's Experts. The Committee is scheduled to issue its conclusions and recommendations on the report at 3 p.m. on Friday, 17 November.
The delegation was headed by Karen Nazarian, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva. It also included Michael Grigorian, Adviser to the Minister of the Interior of Armenia; Samvel Manukian, Head of the Department of Surveillance over the Lawfulness of Inquests and Investigations; Vahram Kazhoyan, Director of the Armenian Department of International Organizations; Ashot Kotcharian, Counsellor of the Department of International Organizations; and Arpine Gevorgian, Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
As one of the 123 States parties to the Convention against Torture, Armenia is required to submit periodic reports to the Committee on national efforts to implement the treaty. States parties customarily also send Government delegations to answer questions from the Committee's ten Experts.
The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 16 November, to begin consideration of a second periodic report of Australia.
Discussion
The delegation of Armenia said, among other things, that the country's initial report to the Committee had been developed in the first years of independence, when a system really had not been established for compiling such documents; currently ad hoc working groups were formed for the preparation of each periodic report to a treaty body; such groups included representatives of all concerned Government agencies and representatives of local non-governmental organizations active in the field of human rights. The delegation regretted that many recommendations of the Committee following the first report were not taken into consideration; that was in great part because the system for developing reports had changed so considerably; it was sure that the Committee's recommendations this time around would be reflected in the next report.
Translation, language problems and technological nuances were responsible for some of the criticisms raised by the Committee; the delegation also shared the Committee's concern over a lack of factual material in the report; future reports would have more substantive information. As for why the report referred so frequently to legislation yet to be adopted, as with the draft Penal Code, final passage had not quite occurred, in part for lack of a quorum, but the passage was much sought. The Penal Code now in force had been used since 1961 and was desperately out of date; the new Code was expected to take effect soon. On 7 November, meanwhile, the National Assembly had adopted a new law on the police, Mr. Grigorian said.
Doubts had been expressed about the lack of a definition of torture in domestic legislation, the delegation said; the laws in force did not contain a legal penal concept of torture; they merely talked about actions that had the nature of torture; the draft Penal Code, by contrast, in its article 132, would define torture as physical or psychological sufferings inflicted by means of systematic ill-treatment or similar actions committed. The draft Penal Code did not literally reproduce the Convention's article 1, it was true, but the penal legislation as a whole contained, it was felt, exhaustive provisions related to such matters, whether committed by private persons or State officials, and prescribed punishments for such offences.
The Committee had noted concern about different types of detention and arrest, the delegation said; for one kind of detention, the period could not be longer than seven days; bodies of enquiry and investigation were allowed to take persons into custody under this arrangement, and such short-term detention had to be according to legislatively set conditions; a person could only be detained if suspected of a crime for which the punishment could be deprivation of liberty. Other periods of detention could not exceed 96 hours; for persons detained under suspicion of a crime, charges had to be filed during the 96 hours, or the persons had to be released; once released, they could not be detained again on suspicion of the same offense. Some confusion based on translation from the Russian text had affected the perception of "preventive detention"; such detention was to prevent inappropriate behaviour being committed before a verdict was released; it was to prevent persons fleeing, for example. The military also could apply such measures, while youths could be subjected to "monitoring". Such detention could not exceed three days. In penal proceedings, the period of arrest could not exceed two months, depending on the complexity of the matter involved; if the matter was complex a court could extend the period to a maximum of one year. Decisions on short-term detention could be appealed in the highest available court.
A person could be arrested administratively and held at a police station no longer than three hours; during that time the person must be brought before a court or the question of his prosecution had to be decided by the police, the delegation said. Administrative arrest also had another form, which could only be decided by a judge, for up to 15 days, for administrative violations directly provided for in the Administrative Code.
A person held in custody was entitled to receive food and articles of immediate need, correspondence, and money transfers, the delegation said; a person held under administrative detention had the same rights, but not the right to meet someone. Every person, from the moment of detention or arrest, or the moment he was charged, was entitled to legal counsel. A lawyer, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, was entitled to consult his client directly and in private, and to take part without limitation in procedural activities. Within 12 hours, a detainee should be able to communicate to his family his whereabouts; relatives were to be informed, that is, of detentions within 12 hours.
Not everything was ideal in Armenia, the delegation noted; legal rights did not always exist in a literal sense, but extensive efforts were made to ensure the full rights of individuals during legal proceedings.
As for medical examinations during and following detention or before and after questioning, specific standards governing the issue did not exist, the delegation said. But there were no prohibitions on the choosing of a doctor by a detainee. The new law on the police, for example, said police were obliged to take appropriate measures to provide medical and legal assistance.
The death penalty could be applied in Armenia for certain crimes, such as terrorist acts and certain forms of military crimes, the delegation said; but since 1991, although courts had given verdicts of death, no death sentence had not been carried out. Some 33 persons were being held on sentence of death, but a moratorium was in effect. The new Penal Code probably would not have the death sentence as a method of punishment.
There was one medical institute in Armenia that had a specialty in training medical officials in distinguishing possible cases of torture, the delegation said; those who had taken the course were skilled in identifying and preventing such ill-treatment.
In general, a number of years ago the reaction of State officials had been negative or unpleasant to any complaints made by NGOs, but that situation had changed, the delegation said; currently much Government work was carried out in cooperation with NGOs, and that included work in the field of torture prevention. There was good cooperation with several Armenian NGOs, including the National Union for Democracy on Human Rights and an NGO consisting of the mothers of soldiers; details and complaints of human-rights violations from these sources were useful to the Government; it was easier to respond when you had such information. Awareness-raising campaigns also had been carried out in cooperation with NGOs, including a television documentary on the rights of detainees and prisoners. The Government also responded to information requests from such international NGOs as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and currently was responding to a questionnaire from Nigel Rodley, the Special Rapporteur on torture appointed by the Commission on Human Rights.
Prison inspections were carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross and by various NGOs, the delegation said, in conjunction with Government officials. Training in human rights was carried out at the country's lone high school for the training of police officers, and recently instruction in the standards of the Convention against Torture had been made obligatory at that school. A human-rights textbook had recently been published to be used in Armenian schools for grades 8 through 10.
Regarding cases mentioned by the Committee related to human-rights defenders and reported cases of torture, Armenia had cooperated fully with relevant Special Rapporteurs, NGOs, and working groups, the delegation said, and specific details would be forthcoming on those cases when those authorities, in particular the Special Rapporteur on torture, completed their work.
Asylum seekers and refugees were not kept in the same places as detainees or prisoners, the delegation said; even the word "kept" was misleading. They were housed, where necessary, in humane circumstances. Conditions had not always been the best due to the great influx of refugees and later because of the damage caused by an earthquake, but many now were established in the country and had even bought land.
Armenian minorities in Azerbaijan in the late 1980s had been subjected to what amounted to State-sponsored hatred and torture in its most cruel forms, the delegation said; hundreds of thousands were forcibly deported to Armenia; Armenia had worked in cooperation with the World Bank and other international organizations to provide for such refugees and to treat victims of torture and to compensate refugees for lost property; no similar steps had been taken by Azerbaijan, however. Many Armenians remained in Azerbaijani prisons, where conditions were absolutely inhumane, the delegation said.
Problems with hazing and other army abuses had been eased in part with publication of a booklet on how to avoid such problems, a booklet developed by an organization of mothers of soldiers, the delegation said; a hotline had been established by this group for the reporting of instances of ill-treatment in the army.
Prisons were overcrowded, the delegation said, and prison conditions were difficult; such issues had to receive greater attention, including the problem of illness in prisons; such illnesses included tuberculosis; a project had been started about three months ago to build a special tuberculosis hospital for prisoners, along with a special laboratory to serve it.
There was one female-only prison in Armenia, the delegation said; all guards there were female; it was among the best-equipped detention places in the country. The delegation had not been able to obtain statistics on possible sexual violence in prisons; it was likely that such offenses had and did occur, but at a low rate; the issue was being monitored.
Prison problems were related not only to overcrowding but to economic and social problems, the delegation said; lack of material supplies was a serious obstacle to improving conditions, and the matter did have ramifications for the possible prevention of torture; there also was a lack of data.
Illegally obtained evidence was prohibited by the Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the delegation said, but actually implementing such a prohibition was a different matter; the State and lawyers were trying to ensure that this standard was enforced.
Police officers, before using physical force or weapons, must allow sufficient time for warning of the offender involved and enough time for the offense to cease, unless there was great immediate danger to life, including to the life of the police officer, the delegation said.
* *** *
25th session
15 November 2000
Afternoon
Officials Tell Committee against Torture about Varying Periods
of Detention and Custody, Prison Conditions
A six-member Government delegation from Armenia, responding to questions put to it Tuesday by the Committee against Torture, said this afternoon that periods of detention or custody following arrest under different procedures could be for seven days, 96 hours, three days, three hours, fifteen days, two months, or -- in complex matters and on approval of a court -- one year.
All persons detained were entitled to the services of a lawyer, and relatives had to be notified within 12 hours, the delegation said.
The officials also said Armenian prisons were overcrowded and suffered from shortages of resources, but that steps were being taken to deal with such difficulties, including the construction of a special hospital for prisoners suffering from tuberculosis. And they said steps had been taken to reduce difficulties related to the "hazing" of army recruits.
The delegation introduced Armenia's second periodic report to the Committee on Tuesday morning and took note of a long series of questions put by the panel's Experts. The Committee is scheduled to issue its conclusions and recommendations on the report at 3 p.m. on Friday, 17 November.
The delegation was headed by Karen Nazarian, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva. It also included Michael Grigorian, Adviser to the Minister of the Interior of Armenia; Samvel Manukian, Head of the Department of Surveillance over the Lawfulness of Inquests and Investigations; Vahram Kazhoyan, Director of the Armenian Department of International Organizations; Ashot Kotcharian, Counsellor of the Department of International Organizations; and Arpine Gevorgian, Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
As one of the 123 States parties to the Convention against Torture, Armenia is required to submit periodic reports to the Committee on national efforts to implement the treaty. States parties customarily also send Government delegations to answer questions from the Committee's ten Experts.
The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 16 November, to begin consideration of a second periodic report of Australia.
Discussion
The delegation of Armenia said, among other things, that the country's initial report to the Committee had been developed in the first years of independence, when a system really had not been established for compiling such documents; currently ad hoc working groups were formed for the preparation of each periodic report to a treaty body; such groups included representatives of all concerned Government agencies and representatives of local non-governmental organizations active in the field of human rights. The delegation regretted that many recommendations of the Committee following the first report were not taken into consideration; that was in great part because the system for developing reports had changed so considerably; it was sure that the Committee's recommendations this time around would be reflected in the next report.
Translation, language problems and technological nuances were responsible for some of the criticisms raised by the Committee; the delegation also shared the Committee's concern over a lack of factual material in the report; future reports would have more substantive information. As for why the report referred so frequently to legislation yet to be adopted, as with the draft Penal Code, final passage had not quite occurred, in part for lack of a quorum, but the passage was much sought. The Penal Code now in force had been used since 1961 and was desperately out of date; the new Code was expected to take effect soon. On 7 November, meanwhile, the National Assembly had adopted a new law on the police, Mr. Grigorian said.
Doubts had been expressed about the lack of a definition of torture in domestic legislation, the delegation said; the laws in force did not contain a legal penal concept of torture; they merely talked about actions that had the nature of torture; the draft Penal Code, by contrast, in its article 132, would define torture as physical or psychological sufferings inflicted by means of systematic ill-treatment or similar actions committed. The draft Penal Code did not literally reproduce the Convention's article 1, it was true, but the penal legislation as a whole contained, it was felt, exhaustive provisions related to such matters, whether committed by private persons or State officials, and prescribed punishments for such offences.
The Committee had noted concern about different types of detention and arrest, the delegation said; for one kind of detention, the period could not be longer than seven days; bodies of enquiry and investigation were allowed to take persons into custody under this arrangement, and such short-term detention had to be according to legislatively set conditions; a person could only be detained if suspected of a crime for which the punishment could be deprivation of liberty. Other periods of detention could not exceed 96 hours; for persons detained under suspicion of a crime, charges had to be filed during the 96 hours, or the persons had to be released; once released, they could not be detained again on suspicion of the same offense. Some confusion based on translation from the Russian text had affected the perception of "preventive detention"; such detention was to prevent inappropriate behaviour being committed before a verdict was released; it was to prevent persons fleeing, for example. The military also could apply such measures, while youths could be subjected to "monitoring". Such detention could not exceed three days. In penal proceedings, the period of arrest could not exceed two months, depending on the complexity of the matter involved; if the matter was complex a court could extend the period to a maximum of one year. Decisions on short-term detention could be appealed in the highest available court.
A person could be arrested administratively and held at a police station no longer than three hours; during that time the person must be brought before a court or the question of his prosecution had to be decided by the police, the delegation said. Administrative arrest also had another form, which could only be decided by a judge, for up to 15 days, for administrative violations directly provided for in the Administrative Code.
A person held in custody was entitled to receive food and articles of immediate need, correspondence, and money transfers, the delegation said; a person held under administrative detention had the same rights, but not the right to meet someone. Every person, from the moment of detention or arrest, or the moment he was charged, was entitled to legal counsel. A lawyer, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, was entitled to consult his client directly and in private, and to take part without limitation in procedural activities. Within 12 hours, a detainee should be able to communicate to his family his whereabouts; relatives were to be informed, that is, of detentions within 12 hours.
Not everything was ideal in Armenia, the delegation noted; legal rights did not always exist in a literal sense, but extensive efforts were made to ensure the full rights of individuals during legal proceedings.
As for medical examinations during and following detention or before and after questioning, specific standards governing the issue did not exist, the delegation said. But there were no prohibitions on the choosing of a doctor by a detainee. The new law on the police, for example, said police were obliged to take appropriate measures to provide medical and legal assistance.
The death penalty could be applied in Armenia for certain crimes, such as terrorist acts and certain forms of military crimes, the delegation said; but since 1991, although courts had given verdicts of death, no death sentence had not been carried out. Some 33 persons were being held on sentence of death, but a moratorium was in effect. The new Penal Code probably would not have the death sentence as a method of punishment.
There was one medical institute in Armenia that had a specialty in training medical officials in distinguishing possible cases of torture, the delegation said; those who had taken the course were skilled in identifying and preventing such ill-treatment.
In general, a number of years ago the reaction of State officials had been negative or unpleasant to any complaints made by NGOs, but that situation had changed, the delegation said; currently much Government work was carried out in cooperation with NGOs, and that included work in the field of torture prevention. There was good cooperation with several Armenian NGOs, including the National Union for Democracy on Human Rights and an NGO consisting of the mothers of soldiers; details and complaints of human-rights violations from these sources were useful to the Government; it was easier to respond when you had such information. Awareness-raising campaigns also had been carried out in cooperation with NGOs, including a television documentary on the rights of detainees and prisoners. The Government also responded to information requests from such international NGOs as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and currently was responding to a questionnaire from Nigel Rodley, the Special Rapporteur on torture appointed by the Commission on Human Rights.
Prison inspections were carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross and by various NGOs, the delegation said, in conjunction with Government officials. Training in human rights was carried out at the country's lone high school for the training of police officers, and recently instruction in the standards of the Convention against Torture had been made obligatory at that school. A human-rights textbook had recently been published to be used in Armenian schools for grades 8 through 10.
Regarding cases mentioned by the Committee related to human-rights defenders and reported cases of torture, Armenia had cooperated fully with relevant Special Rapporteurs, NGOs, and working groups, the delegation said, and specific details would be forthcoming on those cases when those authorities, in particular the Special Rapporteur on torture, completed their work.
Asylum seekers and refugees were not kept in the same places as detainees or prisoners, the delegation said; even the word "kept" was misleading. They were housed, where necessary, in humane circumstances. Conditions had not always been the best due to the great influx of refugees and later because of the damage caused by an earthquake, but many now were established in the country and had even bought land.
Armenian minorities in Azerbaijan in the late 1980s had been subjected to what amounted to State-sponsored hatred and torture in its most cruel forms, the delegation said; hundreds of thousands were forcibly deported to Armenia; Armenia had worked in cooperation with the World Bank and other international organizations to provide for such refugees and to treat victims of torture and to compensate refugees for lost property; no similar steps had been taken by Azerbaijan, however. Many Armenians remained in Azerbaijani prisons, where conditions were absolutely inhumane, the delegation said.
Problems with hazing and other army abuses had been eased in part with publication of a booklet on how to avoid such problems, a booklet developed by an organization of mothers of soldiers, the delegation said; a hotline had been established by this group for the reporting of instances of ill-treatment in the army.
Prisons were overcrowded, the delegation said, and prison conditions were difficult; such issues had to receive greater attention, including the problem of illness in prisons; such illnesses included tuberculosis; a project had been started about three months ago to build a special tuberculosis hospital for prisoners, along with a special laboratory to serve it.
There was one female-only prison in Armenia, the delegation said; all guards there were female; it was among the best-equipped detention places in the country. The delegation had not been able to obtain statistics on possible sexual violence in prisons; it was likely that such offenses had and did occur, but at a low rate; the issue was being monitored.
Prison problems were related not only to overcrowding but to economic and social problems, the delegation said; lack of material supplies was a serious obstacle to improving conditions, and the matter did have ramifications for the possible prevention of torture; there also was a lack of data.
Illegally obtained evidence was prohibited by the Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the delegation said, but actually implementing such a prohibition was a different matter; the State and lawyers were trying to ensure that this standard was enforced.
Police officers, before using physical force or weapons, must allow sufficient time for warning of the offender involved and enough time for the offense to cease, unless there was great immediate danger to life, including to the life of the police officer, the delegation said.
* *** *