|
MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2024)1501/H46-2 |
13 June 2024 |
|
1501st meeting, 11-13 June 2024 (DH)
H46-2 Ashot Harutyunyan group v. Armenia (Application No. 34334/04) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference document |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that this group of cases concerns mainly the lack of adequate medical treatment and care during detention as well as the lack of effective remedies in this respect;
As regards individual measures
2. considering that no further individual measures are necessary in Ashot Harutyunyan case decided to close its supervision and adopted Final Resolution CM/ResDH(2024)114;
3. considered that no further individual measures are required in the cases of Jhangiryan and Shirkhanyan;
4. invited the authorities to provide information on the progress and outcome of the reopened criminal proceedings in the case of Voskanyan;
As regards general measures
5. strongly encouraged the authorities to continue their efforts to improve the penitentiary healthcare system, including by ensuring systemic and needs-based professional development of the medical staff, providing sufficient budgetary allocations, adequate staffing, as well as necessary equipment and medication for the Centre; invited them to keep the Committee informed on the functioning of the Centre for Penitentiary Medicine;
6. noted with interest regular training for medical staff, improvement of access to specialised civil medical institutions and to primary health care in prisons, regular screenings, introduction of telemedicine and an increasing number of detainees which receive medical assistance in civil medical institutions; welcomed the measures taken regarding the provision of medical assistance to persons detained in police establishments, as well as the legislative measures allowing the criminal proceedings to be suspended and questioning conducted by video conferencing in case the accused is suffering from a severe illness and decided to close the supervision of these aspects;
7. requested the authorities to provide information on the following:
· the measures adopted to ensure medical care during detention (requisite assistance in performing daily tasks, maintaining personal hygiene and outdoor exercise), as well as the lack of basic facilities in Central Prison Hospital;
· the applicable procedures and deadlines for consideration of requests for release from detention on medical grounds;
· the measures taken to ensure access to narrow medical specialists in prisons and the practical application of the telemedicine model;
· the envisaged procurement of additional vehicles for transportation of detainees with special needs complying to the CPT and other international standards;
· statistical data on the number of complaints regarding medical assistance in prisons (both to administrative bodies and courts) and examples of judicial practice in the application of preventive and compensatory remedies in such cases;
· clarifications on whether the current legislation and practice allows private visits to a detainee on the part of a lawyer acting before the Court, including if this lawyer is not licensed in Armenia;
8. noting the significant developments and progress achieved through a series of general measures adopted for reforming the prison healthcare system, and closing the examination of the precedent case of Ashot Harutyunyan, decided to continue the examination of the remaining measures in the framework of the Shirkhanyan group of cases;
9. decided to resume the examination of this group of cases at one of their DH meetings in 2026 at the latest.