Human Rights Protection remains Disturbing in Armenia: A. Sakunts

“Human rights protection in Armenia remains disturbing,” stated Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, Artur Sakunts, in a conversation with 1in.am.

Referring to human rights protection in the army, the human rights activist said that death cases as well as violations of regulatory relations still continue in the army, and the right to life is not ensured.

The second issue he referred to was the internal mechanisms. “Prevention of violation of rights and effective restoration of violated rights are not conducted. I am concerned not only with the fact that the investigation bodies do not expose crimes, but also about the fact that corruption risks have a huge impact on the psychological, moral, and in general, legal situation in the army,” noted A. Sakunts.

He is convinced that the agencies, which are responsible for developing policies for resolving these issues, are not inclined to resolve the issues thoroughly but make cosmetic, superficial, depthless changes. The human rights activist is upset that the army still remains a system which violates human rights.

Speaking of police society relations, A. Sakunts stated that the police system has been and is still using violence against citizens, particularly when they are first apprehended. He believes that police use violence, intimidation, and illegal searches to extort testimony and to obtain evidence.

In the activist’s opinion, mere personnel changes cannot solve the issue, because equality is not for everyone, the principle of the rule of law does not work and the perpetrators of violations are not being held liable.

Source: http://1in.am