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A quarterly report was prepared within the framework of the project “Raising Effectiveness of the Protection of Citizens’ Rights in Relation to the Police”. The project is being implemented by the Helsinki Citizens Assembly-Vanadzor with the financial support of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.

The opinions expressed in this report and in the summary below belong to HCA Vanadzor and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding organization.

Methodology

Around 15 on-line media sources were monitored in order to collect cases of human rights violations by the police. The cases have been analyzed based on the information provided by the media. This report does not take responsibility for the credibility of the information reported. The cases of human rights violations have been tabulated according to the police officers’ actions and the venues of those actions.

The cases have been divided into 2 groups: individual cases (in the sense that they didn’t happen during a public event or assembly) and cases that happened during public assemblies including all kinds of public or group events, such as protests, marches, open-air press-conferences, or candlelight vigils.

Consolidated data on the cases of human rights violations by the police

During the reporting period 56 violations of citizen’s (human) rights by police officers were reported, they were:

• 19 cases of the right to freedom of assembly
• 12 cases of the right to personal freedom and immunity,
• 7 cases of the right to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment,
• 6 cases of the right to effective remedy,
• 4 cases of the right to be free from physical violence,
• 3 cases of the right to information,
• 2 cases of a journalist’s rights,
• 1 case of the right to respect for one’s private and family life,
• 1 case of the right to the immunity of residence,
• 1 case of the right to life and the right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment.

Consolidated data on the individual cases of human rights violation by the police

During the period 18 individual cases of human rights violations by the police were reported, they were:

• 3 cases of the right to personal freedom and immunity,
• 3 cases of the right to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment (including the right to be free from psychological pressure and threats),
• 3 cases of the right to effective remedy,
• 3 cases of the right to be free from physical violence,
• 3 cases of the right to information,
• 1 case of the right to respect for one’s private and family life (including the secrecy of personal data and telephone conversations),
• 1 case of the right to the immunity of residence,
• 1 case of a journalist’s rights.

Geographical distribution of individual violations

• 13 cases were reported in the city of Yerevan
• 3 cases were reported in Armavir region; 2 cases in the city of Armavir and 1 case in the city of Metsamor
• 1case was reported in the city of Ijevan in Tavush region
• The venue of one of the cases was impossible to identify

Number of people directly affected by violations

• In 10 cases 1 person’s rights were violated
• In 2 cases 5 persons’ rights were violated
• In 1 case 19 persons’ rights were violated
• For the other 5 cases it was impossible to determine the exact number of people.

Consolidated data on the cases of violation by the police during public assemblies

Throughout the reporting period 38 cases of human rights violations were reported during public assemblies, they were:

• 19 cases of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly,
• 9 cases of the right to personal freedom and immunity,
• 4 cases of the right to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment (including the right to be free from psychological pressure and threats),
• 3 cases of the right to effective remedy,
• 1 case of a journalist’s rights,
• 1 case of the right to be free from physical violence,
• 1 case of the right to life and the right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment.

Geographical distribution of public assembly violations

• 23 cases were reported in the city of Yerevan
• 14 cases were reported in the city of Gyumri in Shirak region
• In 1 case RA police inactivity was reported related to a violation that happened near the city of Berdzor in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh

Number of people directly affected by violations

• In 10 cases 1 person’s rights were violated
• In 4 cases 2 persons’ rights were violated
• In 2 cases around 1000 persons’ rights were violated
• In 1 case 38 persons’ rights were violated
• In 1 case around 25 persons’ rights were violated
• In 1 case 21 persons’ rights were violated
• In 1 case 4 persons’ rights were violated
• In 1 case 3 persons’ rights were violated
• In 17 cases it was impossible to determine the number of people affected

The full report in Armenian here