In Armenia, rights defenders state prisons are overcrowded

Armenian rights defenders name overcrowded prisons, poor quality of medical care in them and problems with conditional early relief (CER) among main problems of the country's penitentiary system.

The overcrowding is a result of mass detention of suspects, despite the fact that the Code of Criminal Procedure provides for a number of other preventive measures, said Arthur Sakunts, the chairman of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, as quoted by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

As reported by Eranuyi Tumanyants, the adviser of the Armenian Ombudsperson, fatal cases have been documented in prisons because of absence of timely medical care. By decision of the government, a list of diseases has been compiled, with the presence of which a convict should not be held in custody.

Ruben Sargsyan, the Chairman of the Monitoring Group over penitentiary institutions, has noted that Armenia also faces a problem with the conditional early relief (CER), in connection with which rights defenders receive plenty of complaints.

As stated by Lieutenant Colonel Vagram Abrahamyan, the head of the Operative Service of the Armenian Police, judicial authorities have recently become increasingly unwilling to satisfy investigators' petitions asking for arrest as a preventive measure.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.