The convicts are protesting against the RA General Prosecutor’s Office, which annulled the decisions made by the relevant commission of the Ministry of Justice to change their detention regime, and returned the convicts to their cells.
People who had spent more than 20 years behind bars were finally granted a small but coveted freedom, which the prosecutor’s office abolished. Now they have chosen the extreme form of protest, opposing illegal decisions.
Armavir penitentiary convict Aram Petrosyan has been on a hunger strike for 15 days. Yesterday we learned from the source of “Nubarashen” penitentiary that two other convicts, Armen Ter-Sahakyan and Alik Grigoryan, joined him. Aram Petrosyan’s friends who contacted us said that he was in a serious condition, “completely drained.”
“Eight days ago, the supervising prosecutor Isakhanyan came, against whom Aram had complained. He suspended the decisions of the placement commission on Aram Petrosyan and Armen Ter-Sahakyan. Isakhanyan told Aram that his hunger strike was pointless and urged him to end it. Prosecutor Isakhanyan did not give any written reason why Aram’s detention regime was changed again.
The prosecutor and the deputy head of social psychologists Ananyan have a very close relationship with each other. Isakhanyan should be investigated, because that person commits many violations. He had lodged a complaint with Pashinyan, demanding that an official investigation be launched against Prosecutor Isakhanyan. It was because of that that he came to see Aram, not because he was thinking about him and wanted to take him out of the hunger strike,” says one of Aram Petrosyan’s friends.
The prosecutor’s office refused to answer our questions, saying that they only answer written questions. They do not understand there what a day of waiting costs for a hunger striker.
Nona Navikyan, spokeswoman for the RA Penitentiary Service, told Forright.am that lifer Aram Petrosyan has been on hunger strike since September 13, Armen Ter-Sahakyan — strike since September 27, and Alik Grigoryan — since September 29.
“The above-mentioned lifers have gone on a hunger strike due to the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office, according to which the decision of the Central Commission on Placement of the RA Ministry of Justice’s service was suspended and the convicts were returned from the semi-open correctional facility to the semi-closed correctional facility,” she said.
Navikyan informed also that the employees of the Department of Social, Psychological and Legal Affairs of the Central Body of the Penitentiary Service visited Aram Petrosyan. In fact, the prosecutor’s office rejected the decision of the commission set up by the ministry and closed the people again.
What problem is being solved with this? How does the Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan react to the fact that the Prosecutor’s Office is consistently annulling the decisions of the placement commission, breaking the last hope of the people behind bars for more than 20 years? And, what is the use of the commission, if its decisions are not subject to implementation?
The press secretary of the Ministry of Justice conveyed Andreasyan’s answer to us: “According to the current legal regulations, within the framework of prosecutorial control, the Prosecutor’s Office has the right to suspend the decisions of the Allocation Commission and to submit a review petition to the Commission. The latter, according to that petition, reviews that decision and leaves it unchanged or agrees with the Prosecutor’s Office, or, accepting the position of the Prosecutor’s Office, makes a new decision.”
The speaker added that a legislative package is being worked out, which will address the issues related to both the decisions of the Placement Commission and the predictability of the suspension process by the Prosecutor’s Office. The package is being finalized, and explanatory work is being carried out with the lifers, “informing about the possible harmful consequences of the hunger strike.”
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia explains the reversal of the decisions of the placement commission by the fact that the lifers did not show proper exemplary behavior, and, consequently, there was no right to transfer them to a semi-open regime.
“Examination of the documents underlying the decisions, as well as the personal files of the convicts and personal cards, revealed that the convicts did not show exemplary behavior while serving their sentences in the semi-closed correctional facility. When deciding to serve a sentence in a semi-open correctional facility, it should have been at least substantiated that the convicts had been provided with sufficient social, psychological and legal work for the semi-closed correctional facility, which was not substantiated by the decisions of the Placement Commission and the documents submitted to the prosecutor’s office,” Gor Abrahamyan, Adviser to the Prosecutor General, had told us earlier.
Yesterday we were informed that on September 25 and 29 the representatives of the Human Rights Defender visited Armavir and Nubarashen penitentiaries and had private talks with Aram Petrosyan and Armen Ter-Sahakyan.
According to the Human Rights Defender’s Office, “during a private conversation, Petrosyan informed that, on the basis of the petition of the Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of Punishment and Other Coercive Measures of July 23, 2021, for unknown to him reasons, the decision of the Penitentiary Service Placement Commission was suspended. As a result, he was transferred to a semi-closed penitentiary institution again.”
During a private conversation, lifer Armen Ter-Sahakyan informed the Ombudsman that he had announced an indefinite hunger strike on September 27, 2021.
“According to A. Ter-Sahakyan, the commission for the placement of the penitentiary service of the RA Ministry of Justice has made a decision to transfer him from a semi-closed type penitentiary, with a lower degree of isolation, to a semi-open institution. He noted that on the basis of the prosecutor’s petition, for reasons incomprehensible to him, the decision of the commission for the placement of the penitentiary service was suspended. During the visit, information was received that lifer Alik Grigoryan had been on an indefinite hunger strike since September 29,” Nune Hovsepyan, Ombudsman’s spokeswoman, told Forrights.am.
Alik Grigoryan was also visited and he too informed that the placement commition has made a decision to transfer him from semi-close facility to an semi-open one, and he has been transferred to Vardashen penitentiary, but that decision was unjustifiably suspended based on the motion of the prosecutor and, on September 28, he was transferred back to Nubarashen penitentiary.
“During the private talks, the convicts were introduced to the dangerous effects of the negative consequences of the hunger strike on their health, as well as the appeal procedures of the decisions against them were introduced. The results of the private conversation and the received complaints are summarized in the Ombudsman’s staff, and necessary measures will be taken within the Ombudsman’s competence to ensure their rights.”
Syuzan Simonyan