On 12 March 2020 the Project “Human rights and women in the armed forces of Armenia’’ (the “Project”) in cooperation with the Justice Academy of Armenia organised a workshop for Armenian judges and prosecutors on effective investigation of torture, other forms of ill treatment and death cases in the armed forces. As a result, 14 prosecutors and 8 judges of the Criminal Court of Appeal and the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Armenia of Yerevan and the regions of Armenia were trained.
The workshop was conducted based on the sub-module developed and updated by the Project and this was the first such training for legal professionals covering questions of effective investigation of torture, other forms of ill treatment and death cases in the armed forces. The workshop was conducted by Council of Europe international consultants, Mr Waye Jordash, who covered questions related effective investigation of the cases of torture, other forms of ill treatment and death in the armed forces, and Ms Elizabeth Doban, who covered questions related to specifics of examination of cases involving women servicepersons.
The Deputy Rector of the Justice Academy underlined, that “the topics discussed during the workshop are very timely for Armenia and the Justice Academy is interested in further cooperation with the Project for introducing the training as a part of the training curricula for legal professionals”. The participants confirmed that the format of the workshop, i.e. gathering judges and prosecutors together, provided for the opportunity of joint work, enabling for looking for solutions to the difficulties encountered in their day to day work.
The Project will finalise the training sub-module based on the comments of the participants and will work further with the Justice Academy for introducing the course in the curricula of the Academy, which will ensure long term impact and sustainability.
The Project is implemented by the Council of Europe within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2019-2022 and funded by the United Kingdom. Action Plan level funding is provided by Germany, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Sweden.
