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Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #717
Dec 28 2013
Armenia to Reform Detention Rules
Government plans to reduce use of custody orders for suspects awaiting trial.
By Mariana Ghahramanyan - Caucasus
CRS Issue 717,
28 Dec 13
Despite agreement that pre-trial detention is used far too much in
Armenia, the practice continues. Now the government is drafting
changes to the law that will offer alternatives to incarceration.
International rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the
indiscriminate use of detention ahead of trial, and the knock-on
effects on prison overcrowding.
State prosecutors invariably ask for suspects to be kept in custody
regardless of the nature or gravity of the alleged crime, and judges
generally agree to such requests. (See Cavalier Use of Custody in
Armenia on the practice.)
Lawyer Nikolay Baghdasaryan says pre-trial detention is not used for
want of other options, but because it is seen as a good way of
encouraging suspects to confess.
In one recent high-profile case that focused attention on the issue,
Baghdasaryan defended actor Vardan Petrosyan, who was charged with
causing death by dangerous driving after an accident on October 20 in
which two young men were killed.
Baghdasaryan said the court's decision to place his client in custody
pending trial was unjustified, since none of the three criteria for
doing so had been met. These would apply in the event that a suspect
tried to evade arrest, was likely to interfere with the investigation,
or had no health problems. None was true in Petrosyan's case, the
lawyer said.
`I don't know why the court broke the law, but it did,' Baghdasaryan told IWPR.
He appealed against the custody ruling in a higher court, but without success.
Edmon Marukyan, a former human rights activist and now an independent
member of parliament, said the Petrosyan case opened a lot of people's
eyes to the excessive use of detention.
`The alternative methods of restraint which we have in the current
legal code are barely used in criminal cases in Armenia,' he told
IWPR. `In 95 per cent of criminal cases the courts approve the
prosecution request for the suspect to be kept in detention.'
A spokesman for the judicial system, Arsen Babayan, disputed that
figure. He said that of the 3,200 individuals charged in January-June
2013, only 820 were ordered to be detained pending trial. Babayan said
this meant that only 26 per cent of individuals charged were held in
detention, not 95 per cent as Baghdasaryan claimed.
Nevertheless, Baghdasaryan insisted that pre-trial custody was
over-used and that courts were far from consistent in the way they
applied it.
The office of Armenia's official human rights ombudsman agrees there
is a problem.
`Pre-trial detention is sometimes accompanied by violations of the
presumption of innocence,' Yeranuhi Tumanyan, an adviser to the
ombudsman, told IWPR. `Holding a suspect in detention must not be used
as a form of punishment, and must only be used when absolutely
necessary.'
The government is now considering amendments to the penal code to
allow suspects to be subject to restrictions that do not include
imprisonment.
`We don't have alternative mechanisms of restraint,' Justice Minister
Hrayr Tovmasyan told parliament on December 18. `House arrest and
administrative [restraints] will be introduced in the new code. Once
they are in force, we will significantly reduce the burden on
detention facilities.
`We will use detention as a last resort if all other forms of
restraint are not suitable.'
Mariana Ghahramanyan is a correspondent for Armnews.am.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenia-reform-detention-rules
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #717
Dec 28 2013
Armenia to Reform Detention Rules
Government plans to reduce use of custody orders for suspects awaiting trial.
By Mariana Ghahramanyan - Caucasus
CRS Issue 717,
28 Dec 13
Despite agreement that pre-trial detention is used far too much in
Armenia, the practice continues. Now the government is drafting
changes to the law that will offer alternatives to incarceration.
International rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the
indiscriminate use of detention ahead of trial, and the knock-on
effects on prison overcrowding.
State prosecutors invariably ask for suspects to be kept in custody
regardless of the nature or gravity of the alleged crime, and judges
generally agree to such requests. (See Cavalier Use of Custody in
Armenia on the practice.)
Lawyer Nikolay Baghdasaryan says pre-trial detention is not used for
want of other options, but because it is seen as a good way of
encouraging suspects to confess.
In one recent high-profile case that focused attention on the issue,
Baghdasaryan defended actor Vardan Petrosyan, who was charged with
causing death by dangerous driving after an accident on October 20 in
which two young men were killed.
Baghdasaryan said the court's decision to place his client in custody
pending trial was unjustified, since none of the three criteria for
doing so had been met. These would apply in the event that a suspect
tried to evade arrest, was likely to interfere with the investigation,
or had no health problems. None was true in Petrosyan's case, the
lawyer said.
`I don't know why the court broke the law, but it did,' Baghdasaryan told IWPR.
He appealed against the custody ruling in a higher court, but without success.
Edmon Marukyan, a former human rights activist and now an independent
member of parliament, said the Petrosyan case opened a lot of people's
eyes to the excessive use of detention.
`The alternative methods of restraint which we have in the current
legal code are barely used in criminal cases in Armenia,' he told
IWPR. `In 95 per cent of criminal cases the courts approve the
prosecution request for the suspect to be kept in detention.'
A spokesman for the judicial system, Arsen Babayan, disputed that
figure. He said that of the 3,200 individuals charged in January-June
2013, only 820 were ordered to be detained pending trial. Babayan said
this meant that only 26 per cent of individuals charged were held in
detention, not 95 per cent as Baghdasaryan claimed.
Nevertheless, Baghdasaryan insisted that pre-trial custody was
over-used and that courts were far from consistent in the way they
applied it.
The office of Armenia's official human rights ombudsman agrees there
is a problem.
`Pre-trial detention is sometimes accompanied by violations of the
presumption of innocence,' Yeranuhi Tumanyan, an adviser to the
ombudsman, told IWPR. `Holding a suspect in detention must not be used
as a form of punishment, and must only be used when absolutely
necessary.'
The government is now considering amendments to the penal code to
allow suspects to be subject to restrictions that do not include
imprisonment.
`We don't have alternative mechanisms of restraint,' Justice Minister
Hrayr Tovmasyan told parliament on December 18. `House arrest and
administrative [restraints] will be introduced in the new code. Once
they are in force, we will significantly reduce the burden on
detention facilities.
`We will use detention as a last resort if all other forms of
restraint are not suitable.'
Mariana Ghahramanyan is a correspondent for Armnews.am.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenia-reform-detention-rules