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A citizen consulted Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor and stated that his brother, an RA citizen, was arrested in Ukraine on suspicion of committing a murder and then sentenced to life imprisonment.

The citizen also said that his applications and those of his parents addressed during the preliminary investigation to the RA competent public authorities to organize the protection of his brother’s rights and his transfer to the Republic of Armenia yielded no results.

In response to the letter of HCA Vanadzor to obtain information on the circumstances above, the RA Ministry of Justice stated that the application of the convict’s mother was examined under the Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons of March 21, 1983 but his transfer was not considered reasonable due to the overcrowding of penitentiary institutions in RA.

The issue often raised by human rights defenders remains a priority.

While the persons at extremely overcrowded penitentiary institutions are deprived of both access to adequate medical aid, and the opportunity to meet many others of their primary needs, the competent public authorities, including Arpine Hovhannisyan, RA Minister of Justice, continue to see the resolution of the issue in construction of new penitentiary institutions without considering any other options.

The fact that judges and courts are not independent and that as a logical consequence thereof the number of verdicts of not guilty is very small further complicates the situation. And given the corruption in the penitentiary system, the institute of grant of parole cannot be considered established in Armenia yet (as a rule, competent authorities decide that the convict “has not improved himself/herself yet”).