On 4 and 5 April, based on complaints addressed to the Human Rights Defender, as well as calls received via the Defender’s Office hotline, visits were paid to Armavir, Kosh and Abovyan Penitentiary Institutions. Private interviews were held with persons deprived of liberty, including with a person who started a hunger-strike. Detention conditions and medical records were examined as well.
A person who had been on hunger-strike in Abovyan Penitentiary Institution since April 3, 2019 informed that the hunger-strike was conditioned by the court judgment. The person deprived of liberty was presented with the mandate of the Human Rights Defender and the procedure for appealing the court judgment, as well as the negative consequences of the hunger-strike on his health. The latter did not file a complaint with regard to the activities of the Administration of the Penitentiary Institution. It was also recorded that the medical records contained daily notes about his health situation.
The majority of the complaints pertain to the possibility of reviewing the judgments, full, objective, and comprehensive investigation of criminal cases, medical care, early conditional release, transfer to a penitentiary institution with a lower degree of isolation, ban on visits and telephone conversations, as well as to extradition of a detainee to another country within the criminal proceedings.
In connection with some of the raised issues, written complaints were submitted to the Defender. Many of the issues were discussed with the administration of the Penitentiary Institution and some of them were resolved on the spot.
In order to solve the issues raised by the persons deprived of liberty, the necessary activities envisaged by the law will be undertaken within the mandate of the Human Rights Defender.