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Amnesty International Report 2017/18
ARMENIA
Republic of Armenia
Head of state: Serzh Sargsyan
Head of government: Karen Karapetyan
Lack of accountability continued for the use
of unnecessary and excessive force by
police during protests in the capital,
Yerevan, in 2016. The trials of opposition
members accused of hostage-taking and
other violent crimes violated the right to a
fair trial. A human rights defender faced
criminal charges. The parliamentary and
Yerevan city council elections were
accompanied by incidents of violence.
BACKGROUND
On 2 April, the ruling Republican Party won a
parliamentary majority, in the first elections
since the 2015 constitutional referendum
approved the transition from a presidential to
a parliamentary republic. Monitors from the
OSCE reported that the elections were
“tainted by credible information about vote-
buying, and pressure on civil servants and
employees of private companies” to vote for
the ruling party.
In November, Armenia and the EU signed a
Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership
Agreement, a looser form of co-operation
than the Association Agreement which
Armenia rejected in 2013 in favour of joining
the Russian-led customs union.
IMPUNITY
There was limited accountability for the
unnecessary and excessive use of force by
police against largely peaceful anti-
government protesters in Yerevan in July
2016, when hundreds of individuals were
injured and arbitrarily arrested. Dozens of
protesters faced criminal charges for
allegedly violating public order and other
offences. The criminal investigation into
allegations of abuse of power by police
officers did not lead to any criminal charges.
UNFAIR TRIALS
Members of the opposition group that
occupied a police station in the run-up to the
2016 protests stood trial on charges of a
range of violent crimes, including hostage-
taking and killing of police officers. Several
defendants reported being beaten in
detention, while their defence lawyers
reported that they themselves were subjected
to pressure and harassment to obstruct their
work.
Arayik Papikyan, Mushegh Shushanyan,
Nina Karapetyants and other defence lawyers
in the case complained that the detention
facility’s administration prevented them from
visiting the accused men and holding
confidential meetings with them, and
unlawfully confiscated and destroyed some of
the case-related materials they were carrying.
Several lawyers also reported being subjected
to lengthy and intrusive security searches
when arriving at court. Lawyers who refused
to undergo searches were denied entry to the
courtrooms and subjected to disciplinary
proceedings by the Bar Association.
The lawyers also reported that, on 28 June,
five defendants were forcibly removed from
the courtroom, taken to the basement and
beaten by several police officers while the
court was in session. The defendants showed
signs of ill-treatment, including bruises and
scratches on their faces and legs,
documented by prison medical staff. The
police claimed these injuries were self-
inflicted when the defendants deliberately hit
their heads and feet against walls and fences
in protest. At the end of the year,
investigations were ongoing into the
allegations of the beatings and the
harassment of the lawyers.
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
In January, court hearings commenced in the
case against Marina Poghosyan, a human
rights defender and director of the NGO
Veles, known for exposing government
corruption and providing legal aid to victims
of human rights violations. She had been
charged with extortion in 2015 after she
alleged that former government officials were
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running a money laundering scheme. Local
human rights defenders linked the trial to her
work exposing corruption. On 30 April,
Marina Poghosyan reported that a fake
Facebook profile had been created under her
name and used to send sexually explicit
photos and videos to her contacts to smear
her reputation.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
The parliamentary and Yerevan city council
elections, in April and May respectively, and
the preceding electoral campaigns were
accompanied by isolated incidents of
violence against journalists and others
attempting to expose violations of the
electoral process.
On 2 April, two journalists were attacked in
Yerevan’s Kond neighbourhood while
investigating allegations of vote-buying at the
local Republican Party’s campaign office.
Supporters of the Party took away one
reporter’s video equipment as she was
filming people leaving the campaign office.
An investigation into the incident was ongoing
at the end of the year.
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
RIGHTS
The CERD Committee raised concerns over
the absence of data on the enjoyment of
economic, social and cultural rights by
minority groups, refugees and asylum-
seekers. It also raised concern over the lack
of information available on small minority
ethnic groups – such as the Lom (also known
as Bosha) and the Molokans – and requested
that the authorities collect data on economic
and social indicators disaggregated by
ethnicity, nationality and country of origin.
AUSTRALIA
Australia
Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by
Peter Cosgrove
Head of government: Malcolm Turnbull
The justice system continued to fail
Indigenous people, particularly children,
with high rates of incarceration, reports of
abuse and deaths in custody. Australia
maintained hardline policies by confining
people seeking asylum in offshore
processing centres in Papua New Guinea
and Nauru, and turning back those
attempting to reach Australia by boat. In
October, Australia was elected to the UN
Human Rights Council, attracting calls for
improvement of its human rights record,
including cutting all ties to the Myanmar
military.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
Indigenous children were 25 times more
likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous
children.
Leaked footage exposed abuses of children
in prison in the Northern Territory, including
tear gassing, restraints, choking and solitary
confinement. In response, a Royal
Commission into the Protection and
Detention of Children in the Northern
Territory was established and reported on 17
November.
An independent review of youth detention
centres in Queensland released in April
found abuses including solitary confinement,
use of dogs to intimidate, missing CCTV
footage, and children at risk of self-harm
being sedated and hogtied. Further alleged
abuses emerged in Victoria, New South
Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and
Western Australia.
Indigenous adults were 15 times more likely
to be jailed than non-Indigenous adults. At
least eight Indigenous people died in police
custody.
The government did not adopt a national
plan to ensure Australia meets its obligations