The Ministry of Justice assigned the examination of the application of the convict complaining about Armavir PI to the officers of the same penitentiary institution
18:15, March 30, 2018 | News, Own news | Detention Facilities
Convict at Armavir PI A. M. alerted HCA Vanadzor, mentioning that he was in strained relations with two other convicts in the same building, and, due to that, his life was threatened.
The convict informed an HCA Vanadzor employee about this in a phone call, following which, on February 14, 2018, HCA Vanadzor turned to RA Minister of Justice D. Harutyunyan in connection with undertaking steps aimed at ensuring the convict’s security.
The Ministry again readdressed the application on the existing issues of the PI to the Penitentiary Department, which sent it back to Armavir PI.
On February 20, 2018 one of the officers of Armavir PI took an explanatory note from convict A. M.. The latter indicated in the note that he alerted the Organization “in a depressed state and wanted to attract attention.”
He also mentioned in the explanatory note that his security was fully ensured by the officers of the penitentiary institution.
A. Afrikyan, the first deputy head of the Penitentiary Department of the RA MoJ, accepted the convict’s explanatory note as a ground and insisted in his response of February 22, 2018 that A. M. did not have any problems with other convicts, and that his security was ensured in the penitentiary institution.
It is obvious that the convict had to write in the aforementioned explanatory note that his security was ensured by the officers of the penitentiary institution as he was under the supervision of the same officers while writing the note. He was unable to present the situation objectively.
Yet, the opportunity of persons in penitentiary institutions to write an application is one of the guarantees of the right to freedom from ill-treatment and, therefore, not only the opportunity to write an application but also the opportunity for independent bodies to examine complaints in a proper manner should be ensured.
With this regard, on March 22, 2018 HCA Vanadzor turned to the RA Ministry of Justice and stressed that it was unacceptable to address the complaint to the body the actions of which were complained about in an application.