WHO CAN BE RELEASED SOON?
A1+
06:55 pm | April 07, 2009
Politics
How can prisoners take advantage of the right to release? The
National Assembly discussed today two bills on making changes to the
"Penitentiary Code"-one authored by the government and presented by
Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan and the other authored by NA Deputy
Zaruhi Postanjyan.
"Independent committees don’t work effectively in Armenia and must
be eradicated," told "A1+" today Zaruhi Postanjayn. Her view was
included in her bill on making changes in the code.
According to the existing legislation, the prisoners must appeal to
the corresponding committee.
Postanjyan believes that the committee simply follows orders and not
all political prisoners who have already served their time in prison
may take advantage of the right to premature release. Postanjyan
proposes to give that right to prisoners to appeal to the court
without petitions.
According to the resolution passed on February 5, 2008, the prisoner
may appeal to the corresponding committee regarding the decision
to deny the release. This was the only issue that Postanjyan and
the Justice Minister shared the opinion, but unlike the Minister,
Mrs. Postanjyan believes that the committee doesn’t justify its end.
It was based on the resolutions of the same committee that Jirair
Sefilyan, Vardan Malkhasyan, Arman Babajanyan and others were not
released.
According to Postanjyan, prisoners must have the opportunity to appeal
to the court for premature release.
Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan told "A1+" that the government is
currently trying to adjust the existing legislation to the Constitution
and pledged that the National Assembly and the government will work
together on one of the legislative reforms.
"The bill will be ready no later than a month. It is going to solve
two issues-the defense of rights and legal interests of prisoners
and create conditions for no exploitation," said Gevorg Danielyan.