YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–The Presidential Human Rights Commission has urged the Prosecutor General’s Office to take action in connection with the reported facts of torture and make an intradepartmental inquiry in this regard.
The Commission took the decision on July 6 assuming the corresponding press articles as a basis. Commission Vice-Chairman Vardan Haroutiunian said that once the Commission members–who visited the jails–had learned about torture from the principal defendant in the case–Nairi Hunanian–and from Haroutiun Haroutiunian–Alexan Haroutiunian and Mushegh Movsissian–who were defendants then but later were cleared of charges.
Another former defendant in the case–Nairi Badalian–also asserted that he had been subjected to torture while staying in custody. He made a detailed presentation of the facts during the Commission’s meeting on July 6.
He claimed that the torture had been ordered by the chief of the operative department of investigation prison No. 1 Manuk Mikaelian. Badalian did not rule out the possibility that there was a direct link between the action of the prison’s chiefs and the Military Prosecutor’s Office–but he acknowledged that he could not prove it due to lack of evidence.
Badalian said that his lawyers were not allowed to see him when he made to stand at the wall without being allowed even to sit or get some sleep for twelve days on end. Despite the fact that the law does not put restrictions on lawyers’ seeing their clients–the chief jail-keeper allowed meetings only on the basis of special permission of the chief of the investigation department or the military prosecutor. Thus–the lawyers were not allowed to see their clients more frequently than twice a month and there were months when even this option was denied to the lawyers.
Badalian announced his plans to sue journalists Victoria Abrahamian–Narine Dilbarian and Margarita Stepanian–who had given false evidence against him–and some people whom he accuses of having used torture against him.