HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER: THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF ARMENIA HAS NOT BEEN ESTABLISHED YET
arminfo
Tuesday, June 26, 22:07
The legal system of Armenia has not been established yet and even
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan confesses it and calls meetings on
the topic of its improvement, but there is still no result, a member
of Civil Initiative Zarui Muradyan told Arminfo correspondent. She
said there is a great number of life prisoners in Armenia. “There are
103 life prisoners in the country with population 3 mln people. For
instance, in Australia with population 120 mln people, there are
only 57 life prisoners…”, – Muradyan said. She also added that UN
Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg also drew attention
to the great number of life prisoners in Armenia during his last
visit to the country. However, despite numerous letters of the Civil
Initiative directed to the relevant structures including Armenian
Prosecutor General’s Office, no criminal case has been revised. “We
always say about the court mistakes, which may be made even in the
most civilized countries. As for Armenia, here there is not even an
institute for revision of criminal cases, there is no precedent of
revision of life prisoners’ cases”, – she said.
She also added that the life prisoners are the most vulnerable group
of society, but they are ignored by the authorities. “The authorities
of Armenia are indifferent to the destiny of these people. We have
sent many letters to the president and all the legal structures.
However, we have got no even fictive reply…I can’t understand the
reason of their negative attitude to our organization”, – Muradyan
said.
She also drew attention to the fact that there are many young people
among the life prisoners. “15 out of 104 people were sentenced at the
age from 18 to 20 for the crimes committed when serving in the army”,
– she said and added that in Austria and Sweden the law forbids to
sentence people under 21 to life imprisonment.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
Direct link to this article: https://www.armenianclub.com/2012/06/28/human-rights-defender-the-legal-system-of-armenia-has-not-been-esta/
