On December 16 the presentation of the Armenian version of the "Combating torture: Manual for judges and prosecutors" took place. The manual is prepared by the Centre for Human Rights of Essex University. It was translated into Armenian by the "Civil Society Institute" NGO with the support of the Association for the Prevention of Torture.

Manual presentation was followed by the discussion of issues related to combating torture. The event was conducted by international experts Matthew Pringle (Switzerland) and Michael Kellett (Great Britain), as well as by the head of the "Civil Society Institute" NGO Arman Danielyan (Armenia).

"The main reason for torture is that law enforcement bodies do not have enough professionalism to carry out appropriate investigations, and taking into account that pressure exists on presenting the results, they choose the easiest way for pleasing their bosses, for receiving confession and crime detection through torture", says an international expert Michael Kellett, who worked in the British law enforcement system as a policeman for 30 years.

According to the head of the "Civil Society Institute" NGO Arman Danielyan, the fight against torture is very urgent for our country, however, it is not realised to the full extent.

"This shameful phenomenon blossoms in Armenia. And, unfortunately, the people who must fight against it, do not fight the way they should, which encourages the torture in our country," said Arman Danielyan.

Anna Barseghyan

Source: www.hra.am