ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN: PRISONERS SEW THEIR MOUTHS SHUT AS THEIR PROBLEMS NEGLECTED BY RELEVANT STATE STRUCTURES

arminfo
Tuesday, November 20, 16:16

Prisoners in Armenia sew their mouths shut as their problems are
neglected by relevant state structures, Human Rights Defender of
Armenia Karen Andreasyan said during parliamentary hearings on the
penitentiary system problems, Tuesday.

To recall, in late October several prisoners dew their mouths and eyes,
with another four prisoners in Nubarashen penitentiary in Yerevan going
on hunger strike as a sign of protest against their verdicts and poor
incarceration conditions. They sent a letter of protest to one of the
country’s news agency with a cut little finger of a prisoner enclosed.

Ombudsman Andreasyan said that he had earlier met with a prisoner
who complains that the prison administration neglect his problems.

“Unfortunately, such blackmail as mouth sewing, is fully justified
in such situation. The administration must respond to their problems
and try to settle them, which will disclose other corrupt phenomena,”
the Ombudsman said.

He said that the wrong phenomena in the Armenian public such as
corruption, bribery, and protectionism are especially brightly
reflected at penitentiaries. “In addition, there are certain prison
rules, the law of the underworld, is demonstrated in local television
films,” he said.

Andreasyan thinks that the reasons of these problems are in the
judicial system, which is not independent enough to improve justice.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress