On May 11, 2011 the RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan had a meeting with the Head of the Legal and Human Rights Capacity Building Department of the Council of Europe Hanne Juncher and the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Silvia Zehe. The Deputies of the Prosecutor General Aram Tamazyan and Armen Danielyan, as well as the employees of the Council of Europe and the RA General Prosecutor's Office participated at the meeting.

During the meeting A. Hovsepyan presented to Ms. H. Juncher the reforms carried out in the system of the RA General Prosecutor's Office and the works implemented in the direction of conforming the RA General Prosecutor's Office to international standards. The Prosecutor General also mentioned that he had applied to the OSCE Office in Yerevan with the request to carry out a monitoring on the competence and functions of the RA General Prosecutor's Office by the European experts in order to find out the correspondence of the Armenian prosecutorial system to the international standards and what reforms should be implemented.

Ms. H. Juncher mentioned that the implementation of such a voluminous work was noteworthy, especially the organization of the professional training for the prosecutors on the supervision over the legality of the investigation of the cases on torture and ill-treatment in the "Prosecutor's School" SNCO. Ms. H. Juncher also inquired about the existing legislation and practical experience on the cases of torture and ill-treatment.

A. Hovsepyan presented in detail the legislative mechanisms and the order which is to secure the rights of the detained person from the moment of arrest till the end of the Court session. For instance, when the persons are taken to the places of temporary detention, they pass medical check-up on the spot.

"If there are traces of violence or bodily injuries on their bodies, then they are examined on the spot and the causes are revealed. If arrest is chosen as a measure of restraint, then the citizen is taken to the isolation cell and here again the detainee passes medical check-up. If bodily injuries are revealed, then materials are prepared to find out the caused of these injuries", said A. Hovsepyan.

The Prosecutor General stated that first of all, it is useful for the RA General Prosecutor's Office if the bodily injuries, torture and ill-treatment are detected during the preliminary investigation as the examination, investigation and checking conducted on these cases, only strengthen and justify the charge leading. A. Hovsepyan also mentioned that he had tasked all the prosecutors to investigate any statement done in the Court by the defendant on the cases of violence or torture used against him.

In particular A. Hovsepyan mentioned that compared to the previous years, now there are many cases when the employees of the legal system are sentenced for torture or ill-treatment charge. "There were cases when criminal cases were initiated against the citizens for using violence against the policemen. However, I tasked the RA Special Investigation Service to carry out the preliminary investigation of these cases and it turned out just the opposite. The policemen used violence against the citizens in order to hide their iniquities by launching criminal cases against the citizens. Six policemen were sentenced in the framework of two such criminal cases", said the Prosecutor General. At the end of the meeting the sides expressed their gratitude for the warm welcome and meaningful discussion.

Source: www.genproc.am