U.S. State Department: Armenia fixed improvements in human rights practices in 2006

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor has released annual country reports on Human Rights Practices in 2006. The report on Armenia says, in part, "There were some improvements during the year. The implementation of constitutional reforms ratified in 2005 led to some increase in judicial independence and for the first time gave citizens direct access to the Constitutional Court. Penalties for trafficking were toughened and a court for the first time imposed financial, as well as criminal, penalties on traffickers. The government and its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, and unlike in 2005, neither the government nor advocacy groups reported any deaths from hazing or other mistreatment during the year."



The report also says that an officer kicked a serviceman, who had previously undergone testicular surgery, in the groin. The serviceman later died, reportedly from cancer, after a second surgery on February 27. The officer received a one-year suspended sentence. Cases of violence against citizens during detention were also fixed.