YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–"The violations committed by representatives of law enforcement agencies–including the widespread human rights abuses and violations of presumption of innocence should be condemned," Attorney Rouben Sahakian said in a report.
"The Problem of the Presumption of Innocence and the Mass Media" presented within the framework of legal training of journalists–was given by the attorney to a groups of journalists in training. The principle of presumption of innocence is determined by the current Constitution of Armenia. "The accused of a crime is considered innocent until his responsibility has been legally established in conformity with the court verdict," states the law.
According to Rouben Sahakian–the presumption of innocence was particularly violated during recent civil arrests. 99 percent of the investigators do not care whether there are reasons for the arrest of a person or not.
A lot of violations of the presumption of innocence are committed by the media. In Sahakian’s opinion–both the official press and the press in opposition appear either from the position of the defense counsel or from that of the prosecution–while the media should present nothing but argumen’s of the sides–responding to every violation of the legal standards
