6 HARUTYUNYAN v. ARMENIA JUDGMENT their hands on the backs of their heads and get down on their knees, and started to club their soles. By threatening to continue the ill-treatment, [the police officers] forced [the applicant] to confess that he had murdered [serviceman H.], [serviceman T.] to state that he had witnessed that murder, and [serviceman A.] to state that he was aware of the murder. [The police officers] also threatened the victims with retaliation if they informed any higher authority about the ill-treatment ... On 5 January 2000, in his office in the military police department in Yerevan, [police officer M.] forced [serviceman A.] to state in relation to the ill-treatment that he was not familiar with [police officer M.], that nobody had beaten him and that the injuries on his fingers had been sustained as a result of his hand being squashed by a car door ... The systematic, unprecedented, essentially cruel and degrading actions inflicted by [the police officers on the applicant and others], which had the attributes of torture, entailed grave consequences in that such actions violated the legally guaranteed rights and interests of [the] servicemen ...” 30. This judgment was based on various witness statements, including those of the applicant and servicemen T. and A., and the results of the medical examinations. 31. In his witness statement, the applicant submitted, inter alia, that he had been detained until the end of March 1999 in the military police station, where he was regularly beaten. At the end of March 1999 he was transferred to a military prosecutor’s office but then brought back to the police station on 10 April 1999. On his return journey, police officer M. threatened him with retaliation if he refused to confess. On the same day another police officer also threatened him, but promised to qualify the offence as accidental if the applicant agreed to confess; after this the applicant made his confession statement. 32. In his witness statement, serviceman A. submitted, inter alia, that after testifying to the investigator, he and serviceman T. were kept in the canteen of the police station for about a month. At the beginning of April, police officer M. called him and serviceman T. and demanded that, when questioned by the investigator, they tell him that they had not been beaten or ill-treated in the police station, and that the injuries on their fingers had been sustained as a result of their fingers being squashed by a car door. On 5 January 2000 police officer M. threatened to kill him if he informed the investigator about the ill-treatment. 33. In his witness statement, serviceman T. submitted, inter alia, that on 30 November 1999, under pressure from police officer M., he had testified to the investigator that nobody had beaten him. 34. On an unspecified date the applicant’s lawyer lodged an appeal against this judgment. 35. On 14 November 2002 the Criminal and Military Court of Appeal refused to examine the appeal since, according to the domestic law, a victim