DEVICES AUTHORIZED FOR USE 19 Figure 2.10. US-manufactured acoustic devices © Robin Ballantyne/Omega Research Foundation. VII. Equipment used in places of detention and in public-order situations Torture, ill-treatment and repression have been widely reported as being practised systematically across Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The use of specific law-enforcement devices in alleged ill-treatment feature in the reports of international monitoring bodies. The following illustrative examples show that there is an increasing body of evidence pointing to the misuse of law-enforcement technologies, both in the commission of torture and illtreatment, and in the suppression of protests. This evidence shows that there is a need for further in-depth analysis of the types of system being transferred and used by state forces with questionable human rights records, or to authoritarian regimes. Armenia According to a 2011 report by the Council of Europe’s CPT, Armenian lawenforcement authorities have used truncheons, electric-shock weapons and handcuffs on individuals in places of detention: The alleged ill-treatment mainly consisted of punches, kicks and blows inflicted with truncheons . . . In several instances, the severity of the ill-treatment alleged was such that it could be considered as amounting to torture (e.g. extensive beating; infliction of electric shocks with stun batons; blows to the soles of the feet).42 In terms of public-order situations, a 2008 report by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights stated: 42 Council of Europe, Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), Report to the Armenian Government on the Visit to Armenia Carried Out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 10 to 21 May 2010, CPT/Inf (2011) 24, <http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/arm/2011-24-inf-eng.pdf>.