14:25, 3 March 2004

Workshop "The Right to Freedom in the Course of a Criminal Procedure" takes place in Tsakhkadzor

5,116 petitions for applying arrest as a preventive punishment were filed with Armenian courts in 2003; 4,923 of them were satisfied. These figures were presented during the workshop "The Right to Freedom in the Course of a Criminal Procedure" held in Tsakhkadzor on February 28 and 29.

Only 193 petitions were declined, which shows that Armenian courts prefer arrest as a preventive punishment.

Participants in the workshop were judges of the Armenian Constitutional Court, the Court of Appeal and trial courts, lawyers, representatives of the prosecutor's office and the police, MPs, and officials of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. Certain legislative proposals were made during the workshop for the parliament's consideration.

A workshop for journalists and 11 regional workshops for prosecutors, policemen and lawyers will be held shortly under Civil Society Institute's Problems of Pretrial Detention in Armenia program.

Source: ARMINFO News Agency