Press Release

Monday, May 21, 2007 - The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
and Civil Society Institute
(CSI), its member organisation in Armenia, express their deep concern about the
death of Levon Gulyan in
custody under strongly suspicious circumstances.

On May 12, 2007 Mr. Levon Gulyan, a 31-year-old restaurant manager, died in the
Headquater of Police in
Yerevan, where he had been invited to testify as a witness in a murder case.

On May 9th, Mr Gulyan witnessed the killing of Stephan Vardanyan, which occurred
during a fight, in front of
Mr Gulyan's restaurant. As an eyewitness to the murder, Mr Gulyan and two of his
employees, Mr
Melkumyan and Mrs Grigoryan, were taken into custody by the police. There, he
wrote a testimony, however
he was kept until late evening on May 10th. He was then twice allowed to go home
but was told to return
back to the police station, which he did in both of the cases. After his return
to the local Police Station for the
second time, Mr. Gulyan was taken to the main Police Department by the order of
Mr. Hovhannes
Tamamyan, Chief Deputy of the Police Department.

At around 5:00 pm on May 12th, Mr. Gulyan’s family was told that he had died.
The police officers stated that
Gulyan committed suicide or tried to escape, by jumping from the 2nd floor.
Considering that his relatives
observed bruises on Mr Gulyan's body when he previously returned home, and that
Mr Melkumyan was
beaten heavily when taken into custody, Levon Gulyan's family suspects that he
was ill-treated by the Police
officers before he fell from the window.

In order to protect the confidentiality of pre-trial investigation, the lawyers
who were present during forensic
expertise on the body refuse to give details, however they acknowledged that the
body was marked with
beatings.

Death in custody in Armenia are not unprecedented since there have been a number
of very similar cases
happening in the past. This last event demonstrates the need for an increased
public control and access to
the police stations, which has been stressed in the suggestions of the Group of
Public Observers of the
detention facilities of the Police of RA in a recent report. See
www.policemonitor.am.

FIDH and CSI call upon the Armenian authorities to conduct a full, independent
and impartial investigation,
to ascertain the facts and, if relevant, to bring those responsible to justice.
FIDH and CSI call upon the Armenian authorities to fully conforming to the
provisions of the European
Convention on the Prevention of Torture and the UN Convention against Torture
and other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

About FIDH:

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), headquartered in France,
is an international non-governmental
organization for the defense of human rights enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. It is a nonprofit
organization. Founded in 1922, it includes 155 national member organizations
over 5 continents. The FIDH acts as
a relay between its members and international authorities. To date, the FIDH has
undertaken more than a thousand
missions of investigation, trial observations, mediation, and training in some
one hundred countries.
FIDH enjoys consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of
Europe, the International Labor
Organization and observer status with the African Commission of Human and
People’s Rights.

Download Pdf files:

English

Armenian