A man who has spent 22 years behind bars in Armenia says his case for early release was postponed for no reason, despite the fact that the law grants lifers conditional release after serving 20 years of their sentence. The following is his written appeal to Hetq.

I'm Vahagn Marukyan. Soon I'll be 42 years old — I have been in prison since I was 20 years old. For 22 years I've been considered a maximum sentence convict. Initially, I was sentenced to death, but since 2003, life imprisonment has replaced the death sentence. But what was the point, if quick death was replaced by a slow, torturous death? They no longer give us a hope of returning [to life outside captivity], though 20 years later we have the right to conditional release.

20 years was completed and early release was on offer; I got the status of one who is denied… I saw no one during that time. 

During the death sentence years, I became disabled from the horrors. Because of ill health, I was moved to the Hospital for Convicts, and I've been here ever since. It's been 5 years since I've been considered a person with a level 2 disability. I'm unable to walk normally; my physical mobility is limited due to my being ill. 

Another year passed; discussion on my early release was postponed. This time when I asked why it was being postponed — I have [committed] no violation or penalty, I'm even ready to pay my share of the damage caused — they said, even if you pay it, it's all the same, nothing will change, since we don't have an order from President Sargsyan. 

During these years, we had meetings with different officials, and all unequivocally say the same thing: be patient, there's no order from above. I want to know: does the so-called early release after 20 years [in prison] prescribed by law exist in general or not?

Replacing the death sentence with a life sentence, some officials even remark, what else do you want, isn't it good that you won't be executed, not realizing what's the good in that if the so-called early release doesn't work in the case of life imprisonment. In the case of execution by shooting, you die immediately, while in the case of life imprisonment, by suffering. 

I hope that after the issue is raised by you our high-ranking officials will demonstrate political will and will pay a little attention to solving our neglected problem. 

Vahagn Marukyan, maximum sentence convict