Armenian Police Make Rare Apology For Torture

Armenian Police Make Rare Apology For Torture

May 01, 2010

Armenia's police chief has admitted to having misled the country about the recent death of a man in police custody, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.

In an unprecedented public apology, Alik Sarkisian said on April 30 that he was "deceived" by his subordinates into thinking that Vahan Khalafian was not mistreated at the police station in Charentsavan, a small town in central Armenia.

"I am going to punish all of my employees who gave me incorrect information and thereby put me in an awkward situation," Sarkisian said in a statement sent to RFE/RL.

The extraordinary statement came one day after Ashot Harutiunian, a senior officer in the Charentsavan police department arrested earlier this week, was formally charged with torturing Khalafian to extract a confession about a theft committed in the town.

Armenia's Special Investigative Service said the charge was based on testimony from other police officers.

The police had denied mistreating Khalafian before that. "I want to make clear that there was no torture," Sarkisian said on April 20.

Sarkisian, whom President Serzh Sarkisian (no relation) promoted to the rank of lieutenant general shortly after the April 13 incident, said on April 30 that he based his initial claims on assurances given to him by the police department in the Kotayk region, which includes Charentsavan.

"I am saying beforehand that I am not going to defend anyone and that all the guilty will be punished," Alik Sarkisian said. "I never encouraged beatings, there are more proper ways of doing the job."

"May those people whom I misinformed with my statements forgive me," he added. "As for those who deceived me, they will be punished with all the strictness of the law. I am not going to forgive anyone."

But at the same time, Alik Sarkisian stuck to police claims that Khalafian grabbed a knife from a police officer's drawer and stabbed himself to death after being interrogated. "I continue to insist that it was a suicide," he said.

The Special Investigative Service, which is subordinate to state prosecutors, said on April 29 that it would make a conclusion about what caused Khalafian's death only after a forensic examination of his body was completed.

Khalafian's relatives insist the 24-year-old was tortured to death -- a claim that was echoed on April 30 by Artur Sakunts, a human rights advocate monitoring the case. He also backed the Khalafian family's claim that forensic medics found at least two stab wounds on his stomach.

"How could a tortured and beaten young man quickly find a knife in a room totally unfamiliar to him?" Sakunts asked RFE/RL. "How did he know where it was kept? Or did they put the knife on a table and tell him to kill himself? I believe what happened was murder."

While welcoming the police apology, Sakunts said Alik Sarkisian should have gone further and stepped down.

"A person died in police custody. In normal countries, the police chief at least resigns in such circumstances," Sakunts said. "Not to mention bearing personal responsibility for his subordinates' abuses."

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/Armenian_Police_ Make_Rare_Apology_For_Torture/2029972.html

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Armenian Police Make Rare Apology For Torture