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Following the 2018 democratic transition, the country still needs to reform its police, national security service, prosecution and penitentiary system. All law enforcement institutions should undergo a serious structural reform. For over two decades, the European Union (EU) has been assisting Armenia’s democratic transformation through its European Neigbourhood programme. Many recommendations of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) or the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee (CPT) have not been implemented, despite these bodies repeating them over the years. The definition of torture in the Armenian criminal code is now in line with the one in the Convention against Torture, but cases of torture are still being investigated under the "abuse of power" provisions of the criminal code. The overall situation for human rights defenders in Armenia is more favourable than in many countries of the region.