Armenia’s Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan has addressed a letter to the chief of police on Tuesday inviting his attention to violations of detainees’ right to have a lawyer. In the letter the human rights defender said he expected Major-General Alik Sargsyan to issue instructions to all police divisions to strictly follow the implementation of this right in detaining people or placing them in police custody.

According to the Ombudsman, his Office’s employees have recently been alerted to several cases of police ignoring a citizen’s rights to obtain legal aid or have a lawyer.

“The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia guarantees the right of everyone to receive legal aid. The exercise of this right is not conditional on a person’s status of a suspect or accused and must be restricted under no circumstance based on a person’s legal status,” the ombudsman’s letter reads. (See: http://ombuds.am/main/am/0/16/2263)

Saribek Sukiasyan, Chairman of the Board of Armeconombank and younger brother of pro-opposition tycoon and former MP Khachatur Sukiasyan, recently found himself in such a situation. The entrepreneur was kept in police for five hours without being allowed to see his lawyers.

The Ombudsman’s Office public relations officer Grigori Grigoryants tells ArmeniaNow that Saribek Sukiasyan’s case is not the main reason for the letter, however “it is yet another of the frequently revealed cases.”

“The right of detainees to have a lawyer is often violated, we don’t possess exact statistics for this moment, but this practice should be opposed,” says Grigoryants.