European Court of Human Rights to examine the complaint under the case of journalist Gayane Arustamyan, victim of police actions
12:00, September 26, 2017 | News, Own news | Right to an Effective Remedy of Legal Protection, Right to be free from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to Respect for Private and Family Life | Gayane Arustamyan
The European Court of Human Rights received the complaint under the case of journalist Gayane Arustamyan who was arrested on May 7, 2015 and suffered inhuman and degrading treatment and physical violence by the police.
Gayane Arustamyan’s interests were represented by HCA Vanadzor lawyer Ani Chatinyan. The complaint is based on the right to be free from torture, right to respect for private and family life and right to an effective remedy as laid down under Article 3, Article 8 and Article 13, respectively, of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Gayane Arustamyan was arrested and taken to Yerevan city ‘Kentron’ Division of the RA Police on May 7, 2015 when she reprimanded a police officer by saying “Why are you whistling, donkey?” as she was crossing the street in an allowed section and was surprised to hear the sound of his whistle. The police officer qualified this as an offense and with some other police officers took her to the police station.
As stated by G. Arustamyan, on their way to the police and at the police, the police officers showed improper behavior and said improper words to her by putting on her psychological pressure and causing her physical pain. As a result, G. Arustamyan felt bad and she asked them to call ambulance. Later, the forensic psychological examination carried out on her own initiative confirmed the impact of the said incidents on her mental state.
Based on the crime reports on the incident filed by G. Arustamyan and A. Sakunts, Chairman of HCA Vanadzor, criminal proceedings were initiated on abuse of power but on August 8, 2015 they were discontinued for lack of elements of crime. After appealing this decision to higher instances and court, G. Arustamyan’s representative T. Siradeghyan, lawyer at HCA Vanadzor, also appealed it to the Court of Cassation but it did not admit the appeal.
In her complaint filed with the ECtHR, G. Arustamyan’s representative A. Chatinyan presented grounds that no proper investigation was carried out to identify and punish the persons guilty. The court rejected the victim’s motions to conduct an expert examination to trace the links between the diseases she developed and the police actions and did not recognize as evidence the results of the expert examination conducted on her own initiative.
The police officers kept her handcuffed for hours and took video of her in violation of her right to respect for private and family life. The handcuffs were removed only 3 hours later with the help of rescuers as the police officers said they lost the key.
And the only way to get compensation for violation of these rights consists in guilty verdict against anybody, but no guilty verdict was made.
The European Court of Human Rights confirmed receipt of the complaint by its letter of June 16, 2017.