According to the data of the Ministry of Justice, in the years 2019-2021, the death rate in the penitentiary institutions of Armenia has decreased. However, last year, an increase in the number of deaths in the correctional facilities was recorded.
The NGO Journalists for Human Rights sent a written request to the Ministry of Justice at the end of December, trying to find out the statistical picture of the deaths of convicts in recent years.
In response, the Criminal Legislation, Penitentiary and Probation Policy Development Department of the Ministry of Justice reported that 12 convicts died in 2019, 10 of them in civil medical institutions, and two in penitentiary institutions. In 2020, seven convicts died, six of them in civilian medical institutions, and one in a penitentiary.
In 2021, six convicts died in civilian medical institutions.
The picture of 2022 is not encouraging. According to the data of the Ministry, eight convicts died last year, only three of them died in civil institutions, the remaining five died in institutions. The Penitentiary Service states that three of the them died of natural causes, but this is more like an face-saving attempt.
We also asked to be informed about how many criminal cases are in progress and whether there are completed proceedings. However, the Ministry refused to provide the data, citing that they do not have the mentioned information.
This means that the relevant bodies did not try to analyze the reasons of the increase in the deaths of convicts, did not draw conclusions.
Observing the cases of death of convicts that happened last year, we notice that they remain unclear and unexplained, unclarified to the public.
The last one was probably the death of 46-year-old Arman Kh. on December 25, 2022 in the Nubarashen penitentiary.
The penitentiary service relays about the convict’s death that he was taken to the “Erebuni” medical center due to his deteriorating health, and then again transferred to the place of imprisonment, where he died. In fact, the civil hospital did not treat the dying man but sent him back to the prison.
The Penitentiary Medicine Center told us that the convict suffered from drug addiction, was involved in a methadone program, that he refused to stay in the “Convicts Hospital” and wanted to return to the prison, but this cannot be an excuse. It is a fact that Arman Kh’s life could have been saved if he had been kept in the hospital for at least a few days.
A more incomprehensible incident took place on October 13, 2023, in the “Armavir” penitentiary. About 50-year-old prisoner A. Y.’s health had been deteriorated sharply. As we were told by the Penitentiary Service, he was given first aid on the spot, an ambulance was called, but nothing could be done, and the detainee died an hour later.
From the official report, it may seem that the cause of A. Y.’s death is a health problem, but according to our sources in the detention center, the convict was beaten to death, a phenomenon that had disappeared from our prisons for many years.
As a rule, these dark crimes committed in prisons remain unsolved, and the public receives at best fragmentary, almost no information, often from unofficial sources.
Let us recall, for example, the incident of stabbing that took place in “Nubarashen” prison in 2020, when Vahagn Abgaryan, one of Alaverdi’s prominent persons, was beaten and stabbed by his cellmates.
There were reasonable suspicions that the head of the prison was aware of this and did not prevent the crime, because shortly before the beating and stabbing, Abgaryan was transferred to another cell. An official report about the incident was published only after the publication by Forrights.am. The incident was not revealed, and the formally initiated criminal case was dismissed shortly after.
One of the hideous mysteries of last year was the death of Armen Mnatsakanyan, a 50-year-old resident of Sari Tagh, after being on hunger strike for 60 days.
He died on June 28, at the “Armenia” Medical Center. The public learned about Armen’s hunger strike only after his death. In this way, the convict of the “Armavir” penitentiary institution decided to fight against the sentence of three years imprisonment for inflicting serious bodily harm / Old Criminal Code, Art. 112/.
On New Year’s Eve of 2020, he was attacked by a drunk man, whom he beat and injured. The doctors mentioned bilateral pneumonia as the cause of his death, and there was no mention of a hunger strike. Armen Mnatsakanyan’s wife told that the state courts and doctors completely disrespected the hunger striker, they did not want to help him even after he got out of the hunger strike. Until the last moment, the wife was told that her husband’s condition was very good.
Syuzan Simonyan