FORMER ARMENIAN JUSTICE MINISTER: CITIZENS ARE MORE AFRAID OF POLICEMEN THAN CRIMINALS
Noyan Tapan
Jul 31, 2007
YEREVAN, JULY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. Changes are needed in the police system,
otherwise Armenia will become a country where evidence is obtained
under duress. Larisa Alaverdian, the first ombudsperson of the RA,
NA deputy, expressed this opinion during the July 31 discussion
"Human Rights in the Police System", which was organized by the
Armenian Office of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).
In the words of Davit Harutyunian, the chairman of the RA National
Assembly Standing Committee of State and Legal Issues, former
Armenian justice minister, it is regrettable that citizens are more
afraid of policemen than criminals, and this problem requires system
solutions. In this respect D. Harutyunian attached special importance
to a number of system changes, such as the transfer of court executive
institutions from the police to the justice system, the transfer of
the function to conduct an investigation from the prosecutor’s office
to the police, etc.
The NA committee head assured discussion participants that such system
solutions are now being worked out.