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A group of detainees of Nubarashen Penitentiary Institution transferred an open letter addressed to RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to HCA Vanadzor Chairman Artur Sakunts and asked to publish it.

In the letter, the detainees inform that a considerable amount of money is periodically extorted from persons deprived of freedom on different pretexts (300-600 thousand AMD from each cell). Some of that money is transferred to the authorities of the penitentiary institution, while some of it, according to them, is transferred to “higher authorities”.

The detainees ask the Prime Minister to apply amnesty, mentioning, “The detainees are eagerly looking forward to amnesty.”

See the full letter with some technical corrections below:

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“Open letter from Nubarashen Penitentiary Institution

Dear Mr. Pashinyan, thanks to you and your supporters, our nation is rejoicing that we will finally become a civilized country and will join the list of such countries. However, against the backdrop of this general excitement, there is an extremely important appalling phenomenon, which was inherited from the old authorities. In our opinion, it should be eradicated.

This refers to the penitentiary institutions (except Vardashen Penitentiary Institution) and especially Nubarashen Penitentiary Institution.

Being held in custody, people are subjected to immediate pressure by so-called prison warders or prison kingpins, extort money from the detainees for the cell (hut-хата) and explain clearly that part of that money goes into “the treasury box”, and the rest goes to the authorities of the prison, part of which goes to higher authorities. In order for this not to sound ungrounded, details will be provided below. If you do not believe it, ask the Deputy Head of Prison appointed by the National Security Service, and he will report it if, of course, he is not involved in that corruption scheme, which is extremely doubtful; otherwise, the current Head of the National Security Service would be aware of it. Anyway, the current situation in Nubarashen Penitentiary Institution as of now (24.06.2018) is presented in detail below.

On a monthly basis, each person from absolutely all the cells (except for several cells of the ground floor) shall pay 30-50 thousand AMD (twice as much as those who are well-off) regardless of their social status. 15-25 thousand AMD is for the cell (hut-хата); 15-25 thousand AMD is for the “stock” (the kingpin), the substitute to the kingpin and the chief, and 30-50 thousand AMD is collected monthly for the regime.

Twice a month, 10 thousand AMD and a phone (even if it is broken) have to be given for the assistant warden to show results to the authorities. Thus, 300-600 thousand AMD is collected from each cell, which is shared among the chief, the kingpin and the substitute to the kingpin. Now you can count the number of the cells in Nubarashen Penitentiary Institution and the amount of money extorted from the detainees, let alone 200 thousand AMD from each cell for the games even if there are people in the same cell who do not play despite the pressure. In that case, such people have to pay an extra amount of 20 thousand AMD for not playing. Then, add to all of this the drinks and drugs which are available in each cell but at a price which is twice as high as the price outside the prison.

Each cell is designed for 10-12 people, but, as a rule, 12-16 people live in each cell. Sometimes, 18 people can live in the same cell, and, naturally, they sleep in turns.

Now you can multiple the number of cells by the amount of collected money, and it will be clear why such a number of detainees was beneficial to the previous authorities. Then, add the huge amounts of money allocated to the detainees from the budget in accordance with the number of detainees. This money is also frittered away by the penitentiary institution as the detainees are mainly sustained by their relatives who bring them food and medicine.

Now, I would like to invite your attention to perhaps the most important circumstance: 80%, if not more, of the detainees in the places of detention are the victims of the previous authorities and especially the system of justice as they were detained and convicted without any evidence and adequate legal grounds and it is not by accident that Armenia exceeds Turkey and Azerbaijan by the number of applications filed with the European Court of Human Rights per 100 thousand residents.

Mr. Pashinyan, not only political prisoners but also detainees supported the Velvet Revolution initiated by you and implemented by the people with great enthusiasm. Both LTP and RK granted an amnesty once in every two years. The last amnesty was in 2013 and, up to date, the detainees are eagerly looking forward to an amnesty. Believe us, everyone, regardless of their criminal past (even if it exists) will stand by you, roll up our sleeves and get to the challenging but honorable work of building a new statehood.

       A group of detainees of Nubarashen Penitentiary Institution