Torture and exploitation at a psychiatric care center in Armenia
Torture at Vardenis care center
An investigation has revealed abuse at a psychiatric care center in Armenia, where 450 people with mental health problems reside. A criminal case has been initiated and a preliminary investigation is underway.
“The patient was tied up with a metal chain”
On February 17, information was received from the police about violations by the director of the Vardenis center to the effect that that “the director of the institution tortures patients and instructs they not be given the full amount of cigarettes and food prescribed.”
Attached was a list of other violations committed by the head of the center:
- “demanded and received through an intermediary bribes to increase wages for employees,
- showed a careless attitude to work during the years of tenure,
- did not fire employees who did not have the necessary qualifications.
“On February 16, in the ward of one of the departments, a patient was found chained up with a metal chain,” the report said.
Later, the Investigative Committee announced that a criminal case had been initiated, and the director of the center and three employees were detained.
A number of violations have been investigated:
- “guests were not fully provided with cigarettes and food for the day,
- from the whole menu they were fed only soup without meat and bread,
- part of the duties of the orderlies of the medical department and the workers of the dining room were performed by patients,
- some of them performed cleaning work in the barnyard belonging to the director of the boarding house or his family.”
“It turned out that the bed of one of the patients, a mattress, was thrown on the floor in front of the radiators, and a fabric belt was attached to his waist, to which a metal chain was attached. This chain was connected to the radiator..
In addition, one resident was tied by his hands and feet to the four corners of the bed,” police say.
“Any illegal action is reprehensible”
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which operates the facility announced that it was closely following the case:
“The Ministry considers reprehensible any illegal actions in any institution under its jurisdiction, especially torture.”
And yet it is reported that the facility is operating as normal.
The ministry also stated that they “are cooperating with law enforcement in order to fully reveal the circumstances of the case.”
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Marietta Temuryan, a spokeswoman for the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, says that human rights organizations have been warning for years about the high risk of abuse in such institutions. During the monitoring process, representatives of the organization themselves became witnesses of violence.
“Whatever control is established, and despite the presence of a mandate for visits to these institutions by human rights activists, the ombudsman or monitoring groups, they are closed, and it is quite difficult to keep abreast of all incidents,” Temuryan said at a press conference.
According to Mushegh Hovsepyan, head of the NGO Disability Rights Agenda, violence against people with mental health problems is widespread outside of institutions, but within them “the risk is higher.”
“There is a misconception in society that the majority of criminals are people with mental disorders. However, according to statistics, they actually constitute the majority of victims,” he said.
According to Hovsepyan, at the moment the state does not have “any political document” that could protect the rights of people with disabilities who are in closed care institutions and prisons.
“In recent years, we have seen a regression in this sense. For example, in 2020, a 2022-24 Disability Care Services Transformation Plan was developed, but which was not adopted. A five-year comprehensive program for the social integration of disabled people was developed which was also not adopted.”
Experts believe that systemic reforms and deinstitutionalization are needed — that is, these places should be abolished altogether, and the residents of these institutions should live in communities, receiving services necessary for independent living.
“The state must provide a person with a suitable place to live, it must take into account their will and preferences: where, with whom and under what conditions they want to live,” Marietta Temuryan asserts.
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Torture in the Vardenis boarding house
