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In 2010, the Government ratified the RA bill to make amendments and additions to the RA law on “Police”, which is aimed at modernizing and improving the Police System. In President Serzh Sargsyan’s congratulatory message on the occasion of Police Day in 2011, he encouraged the police to do their utmost to improve police-citizen relations.

The “Capital” Business Daily had an interview with Artur Sakunts, Head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly- Vanadzor, about this issue.

(Capital Business Daily) “Mr. Sakunts, why do you think civil relations between the police and RA citizens are not mandated in Armenia?  Do you believe that the RA Government approved project of amendments will modernize the Police system?’’

(Artur Sakunts) “In 2010 they ratified quite an ambitious project of amendments. It was over a year ago, and as studies conducted by our organization assert, no major changes have been recorded in the police system.Cases that occurred in the implementation phase of amendments are numerous. It should be noted that Vahan Khalafyan’s murder at Charentsavan Police Department occurred during the period of those amendments. We also recorded a case of violence against a citizen in the Lori Region Police Department, which was tried at Special Investigative Unit and eventually closed based on “no crime”. Currently, violations and actions of inhuman and degrading treatment continue to occur at police departments, who extort testimonies from citizens in order to identify and substantiate crimes. The practice of forcefully taking suspects to the police departments is also problematic. In cases of committed crimes, people registered in the police “black list”are forcefully taken to the Police Department without proper justification or notification. By these examples, I mean to say that in the current phase of amendments, the attitude of the police hasn’t changed.

(Capital Business Daily)“If legislative reforms don’t yield results, what is the best way leading to practical amendments, in your opinion?

(Artur Sakunts) “My vision of reforms is as follows: preservation of public order should be by community service. Thus, the authority to maintain public order should be entrusted to Community Police, who are elected by the residents and appointed by the head of the local Self-governing bodies. The Community Police should comply with the head of LSGBs. The advantage of such a system is that if the head of LSGBs is elected by the community or the police official is appointed by the latter, they would be responsible for their community, as in the case of sheriffs in the USA, who obey community leaders and carry responsibilities for the community they were selected or appointed by. I don’t expect this model to function with 100 percent efficiency and accuracy from its initial introduction; however, it will add to or correctly define the scopes of responsibilities of the police towards the community and how they will carry out their responsibilities. I haven’t noticed this in the current draft law; therefore, I can assert that in cases where institutional methodology lacks, the effectiveness of further activities considerably decreases.

(Capital Business Daily) “In your opinion, which is the main problem of police – citizen relationships today?”

(Arthur Sakunts) The prevailing problem is the lack of police responsibility towards the citizens. Today such responsibilities and procedures of institutional changes aimed to form responsibilities don’t exist: as long as there is no system change, let them enhance education, make investments or provide technical equipments, the level of responsibility towards the citizens by the police will not increase. In general, the picture in Armenia is such today. If a citizen has committed a crime or a misdemeanor, a criminal case is filed against him/her or becomes subject to administrative penalties. However, in cases where a police officer becomes the agent of the crime or exceeds his authorizations for his own purposes, the offenses are not recorded as violations or crimes, or if they are even recorded, the offending person isn’t brought to liability. Thus, the second significant point is the lack of accountability, which implies unevenness and double standards of law enforcement. This phenomenon leads tothe degradation of trust of the citizens towards the police. Thus, in this case, on one hand, it turns out that citizens stop trusting the police officials and the law, and on the other hand, policemen feel with certainty that they can do anything and get away with it. So we can say that police-citizen relations are not unbiased or fair-minded.

(Capital Business Daily) “How protected are the rights of citizens in police-citizen relations?”
(Artur Sakunts) “There is no definition for human rights protection in Armenia. For instance, during rallies many cases are recorded that police officers exert violence against the rally participants.  However, the interesting point here is that the case is easily turned against the citizens by charging them with Article 316.  Article 316 implies violation of public order and an attempt to apply violence against the police. In other words, if legal procedures do not function fairly, public control procedures also stop operating, while, political devices work against the rights of citizens and the citizens remains in continual danger. In order to understand it, you can go out on any street and ask citizens whether they consider police officials the defenders of citizens’ safety and human rights. I can assure you the answer will definitely be “NO”. Moreover, the police are viewed as a means to suppress society by executive power, against which the citizen doesn’t’ have protection”.

(Capital Business Daily) “The Parliament has recently ratified a new bill on “Freedom of rallies” in the first reading, by which, according to critics, greater authorizations were passed on to the police. Is this the government’s attempt to entitle the police with such authorizations justified?”

(Artur Sakunts) “Unfortunately, when this bill was being discussed in the Parliament, nobody considered the following fact. Resolution 1609 of PACE clearly requires that the March 5, 2008 amendments be annulled, and the law be kept in its initial form. Thus, it urges the Armenian authorities to disregard the significance of information provided by the police regarding peaceful and non-peaceful status of assemblies or marches. The law provision after the March 1 event is being discussed today, which PACE considers unacceptable.The problem is that the local self-governing body turns to the police to hear an opinion regarding the upcoming assembly, while police, considering the current political situation, giveeither positive or negative feedback. This is a violation of constitutional rights of citizens. In other words, “the current law deadlocks which restricts the political rights of citizens.”

(Capital Business Daily)“Do you mean the RA Government is passing through stricter laws under the disguise oflegislative reforms?”

(Artur Sakunts) After 2008, the formation of legislation in Armenia pursued a goal of making the civil population more controllable. This is a Russian phenomenon and is called controlled democracy or “putinization”. Today “putinization” is taking control at the legislative level. To change the image, I think we should change the philosophy of law making. Legislative amendments should safeguard and protect human rights and freedom.  If this component is missing, the law becomes inhuman and unjust.

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