On 9 September, representatives of the Office of the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsperson) of Armenia carried out a study visit to the Council of Europe. The visit was organised by the Division of Co-operation Programmes and Division of Human Rights and Biomedicine under the projects “Strengthening human rights safeguards for the displaced population in Armenia” and “Protection of human rights in biomedicine II”.
During this visit, the work of the Department for the Execution of Judgments was presented. In addition, several cases pending execution were discussed, including Oganezova (concerning the lack of protection against homophobic attacks and hate speech), and Virabyan (concerning ill-treatment by police and ineffective investigation thereof). It was welcomed that the Ombudsperson already submitted Rule 9 communications in a number of cases pending under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers.
This study visit followed the Department’s mission to Yerevan, during which meetings with the Ombudsperson had already taken place.