TO SEE IS NOT TO VISIT
Lragir.am
Oct 23 2006
Member of Parliament was denied visit to a detained prisoner. The
minister of justice Davit Harutiunyan says this was not a violation
of the law. The reporter of the Lragir tried to find out from the
minister if this incident did not involve breaking of the law.
"The law provides for free access of a member of parliament to the
remand prison. The law also provides that every unconvinced prisoner
can be visited by other persons except when the investigating body
restricts it. In this particular case, Member of Parliament Hmayak
Hovanisyan was allowed to enter the remand prison but he said his
purpose was not the access but a visit to the prisoner. Visits
were restricted, therefore, I think, the law was not broken," says
Davit Harutiunyan. In this case, it turns out that Tigran Torosyan,
who interfered on the request of the member of parliament, in fact,
should not have interfered, because the law had not been broken.
"No, I think, he should. He did not interfere, he inquired about what
had happened. The problem was access, the way it is set down in the
law," says Davit Harutiunyan.
However, it should be noted that after the "inquiry" Tigran Torosyan
told the member of parliament that the problem had been settled and
he could go to the remand prison and meet detained Vahagn Chakhalyan.
"He can see, but visiting is one thing, seeing is another thing. I
have free access, but this does not mean that I have access with
my eyes closed. In other words, I can enter every cell, see the
situation. The visit is quite another institution, when we meet and
talk alone without anyone else watching. These are different terms.
Access is a separate article, visit is a separate institution and
article. These are different, and when these are confused, people
say the law is broken. The law was not broken, the law was observed.
Hmayak Hovanisyan did not want to use his right for access provided
for by the law," says Davit Harutiunyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
