ArmInfo. It is difficult to overestimate the role of a human rights defender in recognizing an independent national preventive mechanism in the prevention of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in places of deprivation of liberty, proper response and voicing problems in the competent authorities.
Such an opinion during the speech at the international conference "10-year activity of the human rights defender of Armenia as a national preventive mechanism for the prevention of torture" said the Prosecutor General of Armenia Arthur Davtyan.
At the same time, he expressed the conviction that over the past years, thanks to the initiative and consistency of the relevant staff of the Ombudsman's office, specific problems and problems relating to individuals were identified in the places of deprivation of liberty, and which were voiced both in the respective annual reports of the Ombudsman and in individual letters sent to the competent authorities.
At the same time, Davtyan believes that the best example of Armenia's fulfillment of international obligations in this field is the legislative reforms implemented in the recent period. According to him, the existing criminal procedural rules provide for the public prosecution of cases of torture, that is, a complaint by the victim is not a prerequisite for initiating a criminal case. The Prosecutor General believes that such legal regulation is an important guarantee of responsibility of the perpetrators in each such case. "The aforementioned legal norms laid the foundation for the new legal nature of the state's criminal policy against violence by officials. In particular, in the period from 2015-2018, according to article 309.1 of the RA Criminal Code, 6 criminal cases were initiated.
The General Prosecutor's Office has always attached great importance to strengthening cooperation and building partnerships with the Ombudsman as a national preventive mechanism for the prevention of torture aimed at preventing and detecting all possible cases of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in prisons, identifying offenders and the fight against their activities through criminal law documents, carrying out comprehensive, complete and The objective investigation of such cases, and the identification of the causes of the crimes", Davtyan said.
At the same time, the Attorney General expressed the hope that the partnership with the Ombudsman's office would be strengthened and that they would cooperate more efficiently to detect and prevent cases of torture and ill-treatment in a timely manner.