DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HOLDS CONFERENCE ON ‘SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS AND SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE’
US State News
June 23, 2009 Tuesday 5:53 PM EST
YEREVAN, Armenia, March 16 — The U.S. Embassy issued the following
press release:
The United States Department of Justice held a conference on "Support
for Victims and Successful Prosecution of Domestic Violence" in
Yerevan, Armenia, on March 16, 2009. Three American prosecutors and one
social worker participated – Prosecutor Steven Kessler (U.S. Embassy,
Yerevan), Prosecutor Arlene Markarian (Brooklyn, New York), Prosecutor
Wanda Lucibello (Brooklyn, New York), and Social Worker Cristin Mathiez
(Brooklyn, New York). Joining the Americans at the conference were
Armenian judges, prosecutors, police, and representatives from the
Women Rights Center, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health,
the Ministry of Social and Labor Issues, the Civil Rights Division
of the National Assembly, and international organizations such as
UNICEF, OSCE and Open Society Institute Foundation in Armenia. The
American and Armenian officials discussed their countries’ respective
approaches to fighting all manifestations of domestic violence, as
well as support for the victim, investigation of a domestic violence
case, and prosecution of such a case where the victim refuses to
cooperate. U.S. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch opened the conference.
In her remarks, the Ambassador noted that although the statistics on
domestic violence in the U.S. are sobering, much progress has been
made in the past twenty years. The Ambassador urged the Armenian
authorities in attendance to do all that can be done to reduce
domestic violence and care for its victims. The domestic violence
conference is just one of several sessions held by the U.S. Department
of Justice in Yerevan to support Armenian law enforcement. In 2008,
the USDOJ held conferences for Armenian judges, prosecutors, police
and defense attorneys on the European Convention on Human Rights,
corruption prosecution, financial crime investigations, the rules of
evidence in adversarial proceedings, and the development of Armenian
jurisprudence and case law.