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On November 21, 2014, a resident of Vanadzor city A.B., her father H.B. and her mother B.Kh. refered to HCA Vanadzor office for the protection of their rights. The citizens raised an issue referring to illegal activities and ill treatment of Vanadzor city’s Taron district RA police department police officers, which had led to A.B’s suicide attempt.

According to B.Kh.’s letter addressed to the organization, police officers from Stepanavan city visited their apartment at 10:40 on July 1, 2014 with a purpose of searching the apartment. In the end of the search, they informed that A.B. should accompany them to Stepanavan city police department with a purpose of interrogation. The same day, at around 15:00-16:00pm the family and the police officers left to Stepanavan city police department where A.B. was interrogated till 23:30pm.

In the inquiry presented to the organization H. B. and B. Kh. informed that 4 police officers of Vanadzor city’s Taron district police visited their apartment at 11:00 on 11 November, 2014 with a purpose to search the apartment. The latter informed that they wanted to talk to H.B’s daughter A.B. but since the latter was in Yerevan, H.B. was taken to Vanadzor city’s Taron district police department the same day at around 11:20. At the police department 5 officers started to express curses of sexual character offending H.B and threatened to beat him if he did not tell the location of A.B. H.B stayed in the mentioned room of the police department for about 2 hours during which the police officers humiliated him, threatening to use their contacts to remove him from his job.

During the mentioned period of time, H.B. tried to call his boss to inform that he would not be able to attend work as the police illegally holds him in the department but he could not finish his sentence as the police officers took the phone away and did not let make other calls.

After staying in the same room for 2 hours, he was transferred to the next room where he was left alone. Later, at around 17:00pm the police officer from the opposite room received a call after which he returned the cell phone and told H.B. to come back to the department with his daughter. A.B. returned from Yerevan the same day at about 17:30pm and came to Vanadzor city’s Taron district police department with the police officers and parents. A. B. informed that during the interrogation that day police officers put her under unbearable psychological pressure and humiliated her dignity with ill treatment. Particularly, police officers stripped A.B. to find tattoos, injuries, hidden objects on her body and all of this was recorded on phone. Later, through interrogation, making fun, personally offending her and pressuring they wanted A.B. to confess she had committed crime. During the interrogation as mentioned in A.B.’s inquiry, health issues raised and she started suffocating, she wanted to see her parents to take pills from her mother but 3 police officers whose names she did not memorize and could only indentify tem by seeing, did not allow meeting her mother, teasing her saying “if you cannot be without your mommy now, imagine yourself in women’s prison, what will you do without her there?”

Police officers continually offended her during the interrogation calling her a slot, and a bitch without explaining her rights and responsibilities held her from 17:30 of November 11 to 03:30 November 12, threatening to transfer her and put among criminals and she would never see her parents. Realizing they could not force A.B. plead guilty they started to convince her. Unable to bear the pressure A.B. started to write a confession that did not correspond to the reality, which was dictated to her by the police officers after which they let her go. Police officers assured A.B. that not only no one would learn about the testimony it is also unnecessary for the family members to know about the written testimony as a result of the interrogation. She did not inform her parents about it until November 20, 2014. A.B.’s mother informed that during the whole time when A.B. was in the department she was there too and had heard the voice of her crying daughter. In an attempt to find out what was going on in the interrogation room, she opened the door of the interrogation room and saw the girl crying after which B.Kh. was taken out of the police department building. In the inquiry B.Kh. insisted that A.B. was held in the police department from 17:30 November 11 to 03:30 November 12.

A.Kh. presented another inquiry to the organization on 25^th of November, 2014, regarding the fact that at around 20:50 November 23, 2014 A.B. realized the scale of seriousness of the testimony she had written under police pressure and took a large number of pills attempting to commit a suicide which was prevented by the doctors of #1 hospital of Vanadzor city.

A.B. was released from the hospital and transferred home on November 26; nevertheless up until today no police officer has visited or addressed her in an attempt to identify the causes of suicide attempt.

Considering the above mentioned and based on the obligation and responsibility of the RA state to effectively examine cases of life threats, physical integrity and health protection, as well as the absolute prohibition of torture and inhuman and humiliating treatment, an inquiry was sent to the RA General Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan and the head of RA SIS V. Shahinyan with a request to start criminal proceedings and take measures to identify and hold accountable those who humiliated A.B.’s dignity,  put her under psychological pressure and abused her, illegally depriving her freedom and caused her suicide attempt.

Names in the article are fictional and the inquiry letter is not published on the website due to the privacy rights of the people mentioned.