The Union of Informed Citizens files three lawsuits against the Ministry of Internal Affairs

The Union of Informed Citizens NGO, which was involved in the Police Reform Coordination Working Group until January 2023, recently sent a number of inquiries to the Police, which, in violation of the law, did not respond to them.

The first inquiry concerned the excessively long repair times for broken-down vehicles of the Patrol Service. For example, in the case of 52 percent of damaged Toyota cars, the repair took more than 5 months. With the inquiry, we attempted to find out whether the insurance payments for the repairs were received on time and when the repair payments were made. We have not received any answer to the inquiry.

The other inquiry refers to the promotion of four patrol service officers of the Yerevan regiment of the Patrol Service, who received the rank of officer. We requested information on the criteria by which the decision to promote the mentioned patrol service oficers was made. The Police response to the inquiry read that promotion decisions were made based on the progress, training and moral qualities of the patrol service officers in question. With an additional inquiry, we asked for information on the patrol service officers with the highest crime detection rates to compare them with the achievements of the promoted patrol officers. We have not received an answer to this inquiry either.

And finally, the third inquiry concerned the fixed cameras in public places installed or controlled by the Police and police-subordinate bodies. In particular, we requested to provide a list of the cameras, the addresses or a description of the place of installation.

Failure of the Police to respond to these inquiries within 5 days is a violation of the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Freedom of Information, in connection with which the Union of Informed Citizens has filed a lawsuit in the Administrative Court.

It should be noted that the failure of the Police to respond to inquiries has been systematic in recent times. In pursuit of its public commitment to monitor police reform, the Union of Informed Citizens NGO will consistently demand that the Police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs operate in an accountable and transparent manner, and will take all necessary legal action whenever the Police or the Ministry of Internal Affairs do

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