PROSECUTORS WORRIED OVER RELEASE OF CONVICTS ON PROBATION
ARMENPRESS
Feb 4, 2008
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS; In an official letter to Hovhannes
Manukian, the chairman of the Armenian Court of Cassation, the
country’s prosecutor-general Aghvan Hovsepian singled out a chain of
‘serious’ breaches of the law in the process of releasing convicts
on probation.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General says this conclusion has been
made after an in-depth look into the practice of releasing convicts
on probation in 2006 and 2007.
The letter says this process was marred by ignoring a set of procedural
and other requirements.
According to the prosecutor-general, the biggest concern is that among
the criminals set for release on probation were convicts sentenced
to length prison terms for committing serious and grave crimes.
The letter, posted on the Prosecutor-General’s official website,
says among such persons were convicts who had served 7,8 and 9 prison
terms for various serious crimes in the past.
"Fortunately, the decisions of prison authorities to discharge some
convicts on probation were prevented by independent commissions and
judges who took into consideration the protests of prosecutors,"
the letter says.
Out of 2,344 convicts released on probation in 2005-2007 some 285
were again sentenced to different prison terms for new crimes, it said.