Armenia’s penitentiary system extremely cruel – human rights activist
tert.am
17:49 – 21.09.12
The video evidence of violence against prisoners in the Gldani prison,
Tbilisi, Georgia, proved shocking not only to Georgian, but also to
Armenian societies.
Armenia’s first human rights defender (Ombudsman), Larisa Alaverdyan,
a member of a group monitoring Armenia’s penitentiary institutions,
has the information on severe beating of prisoners, particularly two
life-termers.
`Mher Yenokyan, as well as one more prisoner, whose name I cannot
recall now, were severely beaten after escaping from prison,’
Alaverdyan told Tert.am.
However, she is not informed of any instance of rape in Armenia’s
penitentiary institutions either as Armenia’s ex-ombudsman or as a
nominating group member.
Mrs Alaverdyan is not surprised at violence against prisoners in
Georgia. Her Georgian partners informed her that, despite President
Mikheil Saakashvili’s `some positive political tendencies,’ the real
human rights situation in the neighboring state is not so good.
The human rights activist Vardan Harutyunyan considers it wrong to
deny violence in penitentiary institutions. `Numerous instances have
been reported. These are penitentiaries inherited from Soviet times –
both in Georgia and in Armenia. A human being is of no value for
them,’ he said.
`The penitentiary system is a cruel system, and human rights activists
have made repeated statements. Also international organizations,
including Amnesty International, have been reporting cases for years,’
he said.