The legiality issue related to the restriction of visits to the prisoner and their interaction with external world in the context of European courts

The mentioned research was conducted by the Protection of Rights without Borders NGO.

Within the scope of the mentioned document, the Organization presented its observations on the legal issues related to the visits to the imprisoned citizens and to the interaction with the external world from practical, as well as from the perspective of European courts and RA domestic legislation.

A reference to the cases since 2016 and especially to the case of Arsen Babayan, the Former Head of Staff of the RA National Assembly was made, during which a decision to restrict the phone conversations and visits by the investigator was made.

According to the domestic legislation and practice, in such situations the body in charge of conducting the proceeding has a large scope of discretion, which can lead to arbitrary restrictions of the citizen’s rights.

As a result, the body in charge of conducting the proceeding does not present justifications, particularly:

• to what extent the interactions of the accussed can hinder to the ensurance of the complete, objective and compliant investigation of the case,
• the scope of people, the interaction with whom can affect the investigation of the case is not specified and justified, including also public officials having the right to visit and interact with the arrested or imprisoned citizens
• a justification on the restriction to meet with family members is not presented, despite the circumstance, that the latter are not subjected to any criminal liabilities.
• The reasoning part is missing from the decision.

Based on the above mentioned, it can be concluded, that decision making in regard to the mentioned and other similiar cases by the body in charge of conducting the proceeding can lead to the violation of the rights prescribed by the European Court of Human Rights.

THE LEGIALITY ISSUE RELATED TO THE RESTRICTION OF VISITS TO THE PRISONER AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH EXTERNAL WORLD IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEAN COURTS