On 10-11 July a two-day workshop on “Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death" was held in Yerevan. The training was organized by “Foundation against the Violation of Law” NGO and the RA’s Human Rights Defender's Office.
The goal of Minnesota Protocol is to promote effective investigation of potentially unlawful death and suspected enforced disappearance to thus protecting the rights to life, prioral justice, as well as rights to accountability. The Protocol defines a common standard, principles, as well as group guides for the investigation of possible cases of unlawful death. The Minnesota Protocol is implemented in “all potential cases of unlawful death” and investigation of suspected enforced disappearance.
RA Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan noted that the Minnesota Protocol has an important role nowadays. According to him, there are cases of unlawful deaths, including cases of deaths as a result of enforced disappearance, leading to the necessity of an expert. Arman Tatoyan stressed that according to the Law on the Human Rights Defender, the Defender is entitled to appeal to the competent authorities to carry out an expert research on the circumstances of the case upon the complaint or his own initiative and receive conclusions from it.
The Human Rights Defendant thanked Larisa Alaverdyan, the Executive Director of the NGO “Foundation Against Violation of Law”, the first Human Rights Defender, for the professional discussion of the Minnesota Protocol on the Probability of Illegal Deaths.
The trainers presented guidelines for investigating death cases and restoring mortal remains, different types of evidence and sampling autopsy procedures.