For six years, Anahit* lived every day in fear.

Her husband started hitting her as soon as they were married, and the violence didn’t stop until she finally fled and filed a police report against her spouse.

The day she realized he may kill one of their children was the day she finally left. 

“My husband did not care at all that I was pregnant, that it would hurt the child: if he decided that he had to beat me, then he would beat me and that was it,” she says. “If I tell my life episode by episode, it will turn out to be a horror movie.”

Anahit, 40, is one of a growing number of Armenian women who are seeking criminal action against abusive husbands. Human rights advocates believe recent reforms, including the introduction of monitoring devices for abusers, are helping chip away at the deep cultural taboos that once kept women chained to their abusers.

Human Rights Defender Zaruhi Hovhannisyan notes that while the overall number of domestic violence cases is still worrying, there are signs that women are beginning to speak out against their abusers.

“The complex is breaking,” she says. “Women are beginning to understand that it is not a shame to be abused, that it is not her fault that she is abused, and if she remains silent, she may die.”

Sixteen women were killed by their abusers in 2022, according to the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women, a local non-government organization. Overall, the number of domestic violence reports has increased, which human rights activist Arman Gharibyan views as a sign the reforms are starting to work: women are beginning to trust the police enough to report abuse and the police are registering the crimes—something that did not always happen in the past.

“Statistics show that the number of domestic violence has increased compared to previous years. In fact, the number of people who talk about the problem has increased and that is positive,” says human rights activist Arman Gharibyan.

“The law enforcement system is overloaded, which means sometimes the cases are investigated for a long time… but it is positive that the cases are being investigated”, says Gharibyan.

The changes are the result of a series of laws and new government strategies, starting with the 2018 domestic violence law, the first to give law enforcement the right to act to prevent domestic abuse. More recently, amendments to the law allow police officers to use electronic monitors to prevent future abuse. 

“This is a positive step, which will be of great benefit,” notes Hovhannisyan, who in addition to serving as the public defender also works in the PR team at the Coalition to Stop Violence against Women.

“[Now] the abuser can follow the victim, approach silently and commit violence again. With the introduction of this system, that risk decreases. A victim will not have to fear being attacked from behind,” Hovhannisyan notes.

For Anahit, that is a constant fear. Despite the fact that she has been living alone with her three children since her husband was arrested in 2021, she is afraid he will track them down and attack them again. Anahit notes that when her husband was serving his six-month jail sentence for domestic violence, she felt free for the first time. 

“That's when I was able to rediscover myself. When I was able to leave the house for the first time, walk in the sun without fear, go to the store and buy candy for my children, you can't imagine what a blissful moment it was,” she says. “Now, however, I feel fear again, my husband is out of jail and I am afraid he will not leave us alone again … I hope he will not kill me one day.”

Once the amendment goes into force, a convicted abuser will wear an electronic bracelet or ankle monitor which will allow police to monitor his movements and ensure he is not harassing his former victims. Similar devices are already used in neighboring Georgia as well as Canada, France, Spain and the United States. 

Anahit says her social worker has told her about the monitoring device and other legal tools the state has to protect her, and today she is trying to focus on building a better life for her children. 

“I realized too late that my problem was not the bruises on my face, but my silence. I thought I would be pointed at, would be accused,” she says. “Apart from controlling the abuser, it is also important to change society.”

* Chai Khana has not identified Anahit or her children or where they are living out of concerns for their safety.