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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had made 12 decisions on the 3rd Article of the European Convention on Human Rights, related to prohibition of torture by 2015, Haykuhi Harutyunyan, head of “Protection of Rights Without Borders” NGO said during a conference on “Civil society against torture: cases of torture in Armenia” at Media Centre.

“There was one case particularly involving torture, 9 of them were about inhuman treatment, 2 cases involved lack of investigation efficiency,” she said.

According to the head of the NGO, most of the cases involving torture were reported by the Prison Monitoring Group. In 2013, the group submitted 363 reports on torture.

“As a result of those 363 reports, 7 criminal cases were filed. Disciplinary proceedings were carried. Yet no one was subjected to criminal responsibility,” Harutyunyan said.

Lawyer Hayk Alumyan noted that the number of ECHR decisions doesn’t imply 12 cases of torture in Armenia. It simply suggests that 12 people were consistent in achieving justice.

Head of “Protection of Rights Without Borders” NGO informed that the ECHR Committee on Torture has established enhanced control in Armenia, as the committee came to a conclusion that the state doesn’t take the necessary steps to prevent these cases.

“There were cases when specific employees, who were recognized as offenders by the European Court, later were promoted. We’ve been warning about these cases for years, but unfortunately there are no changes in the system,” she noted.

Mr. Alumyan noted that the Armenian society is rather tolerant of torture. “They are unacceptably tolerant. The society isn’t ready for European standards. Very little explanatory work is carried out. In this respect, we’re even behind Georgia”.

According to him, it takes him a lot of effort to explain his clients not to remain silent about torture for the offenders to be held responsible.