The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) published a report (www.cpt.coe.int), on Friday March 19, concerning the tragic events of March 1, stating that all those detained by law-enforcement bodies during the post presidential elections of 2008, were subjected to physical violence even when the detainees did not show any resistance.

The authors of the report visited Armenia on March 15-17, and talked to the majority of those detained in post-election period (Presidential election in Armenia was held on February 19, 2008) and in the aftermath of March 1-2 clashes between protestors and law-enforcers.

“The ill-treatment alleged consisted, in the main, of truncheon blows, kicks and punches to the body and head, and being pushed to the ground and dragged into a police vehicle. According to several of the persons alleging ill-treatment, some of the law enforcement officials involved were wearing masks and did not have any form of identification on their clothing,” the CPT report says.

CPT calls upon the Armenian authorities to make it clear to all law enforcement bodies that ill-treatment of people in custody is illegal and punishable by the law.

“Law enforcement officials should be continuously reminded, through appropriate means and at regular intervals, that no more force than is strictly necessary should be used when effecting an apprehension and that, once apprehended persons have been brought under control, there can never be any justification for striking them,” the report states.

The report is published along with the response of the Armenian Government, where the Armenian authorities refute all the facts mentioned in the report insisting that no illegal step was registered in law-enforcers’.

Mikael Danielyan, Head of Armenia’s Helsinki Association, who met the report’s authors in Armenia, says that a rather unbiased and correctly formed report is submitted, and the fact that it was published, proves that CPT was not satisfied with the Armenian authorities’ response.

“Usually CPT waits until it gets the response of authorities, and publishes a report only in case the authorities’ response does not seem convincing to the committee,” says Danielyan.