Every year thousands of women become victims of domestic violence, this is the overwhelming majority of family violence cases in Armenia. There are few precise statistics on how many women are subjected to this, as police statistics significantly differ from those provided by human rights organizations.
These women, usually the victims of continuous abuse, often remain silent because of fear of threats, public opinion and feelings of being unprotected. However, there are still women who speak out; Hasmik Khachatryan was among the few that, despite the violence 9 years, found the strength to overcome the fear of going to court, and demanding her husband Sargis Hakobyan to be held accountable.
The Republic of Armenia has no law on domestic violence and for this reason there is no clear data on how many people were sued for respective crimes. The articles on which they were convicted, are of other categories of the Criminal Code.
Nevertheless, there is a bill that basically formulates the concept of family violence inits types: psychological, economic, sexual, physical. It also assigns the resources for its prevention, and defines the places where the abuser and the victim can receive appropriate support, be it the shelters, psychological support center or counseling centers. The draft law was submitted for discussion in 2009, but still has not entered into the agenda National Assembly of Armenia yet.
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