Practice of prohibiting visits of close relatives with detained persons for no good reason to be eliminated

25/05/2018

The package of the Laws of the Republic of Armenia "On making supplements to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia", "On making amendments and a supplement to the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On Treatment of Arrestees and Detainees"" and draft Decisions of the Government of the Republic of Armenia "On making an amendment to Decision No 1543-N of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of 3 August 2006" jointly developed by the Staff of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia were introduced for public discussion on the unified website for publication of legal acts (https://www.e-draft.am/projects/926):

The development of draft packages is greatly conditioned by the need to rule out the approach that is currently widely common in law enforcement practice when the body conducting criminal proceeding adopts a decision on prohibiting the visits of detained persons with close relatives and their legal representatives for no good reason.

Taking into account the shortcomings of the regulation of domestic law concerning the problem and international standards, including the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as the approaches and principles adopted by the European Court of Human Rights, some regulations are recommended by the drafts for envisaging a specific mechanism for prohibiting the visit of a detained person with a close relative and legal representative and ensuring compliance of the national legislation with international standards.