Mher Yenokyan

Hetq Correspondent at Nubarashen Prison

I received two pieces of good news at the same time; both about freedom. I celebrated with a toast of cornelian cherry juice.

The first was about the release of Volodya Avetisyan. The second was about the release of Jiří Kajínek, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing two people 23 years ago in the Czech Republic. He tried to escape from prison in 2000, and was jailed again.

It was a touching moment when Volodya Avetisyan gifted the roses he raised in prison. After being released, he went straight to the government building to launch a sit-down protest for the protection of prisoners’ rights. I was blown away by his action.

As for Kajínek, I watched the feature film  “Kajínek”, about his condemnation and the history of his struggle many years ago, in prison. For 23 years, he insisted that a judicial error resulted in his conviction. He appealed the verdict many times, but got refusals. Kajínek was released by a pardon of the Czech president. He told reporters that he will continue fighting for reopening the case while on the outside.

It makes me happy to hear about such real actions based on humanitarian principles. It is unfortunate that so far in Armenia, not only have there been no precedents on life sentence revision, which exists in almost all developed countries, but also a humanitarian approach in the form of a pardon is completely absent. We can only hope that humanitarianism in Armenia will not be applied selectively, only for people with connections.

On the wall of my cell, one more achievement certificate will be added soon. It will confirm my membership in the Eurasian Creative Guild. My relatives will soon get it to me. However, no mention is made in the prison case files about such achievements. There is no appreciation of anything positive. For this, I’ve proposed a legislative change in my research paper.

According to Article 93 of the Criminal Procedure Code, there may be applied incentive measures for the convicts who are law-abiding, displaying positive behavior, a fair approach to work and study, actively participating in events - provision of additional short-term or long-term visits, adding the duration of outdoor walk time of convicts held in a closed correctional institution up to two hours for one month. As a way of encouragement, the convict may even be transferred to an institution with a lower degree of isolation.

In practice, the expression "may be applied" reduces the chances of the application of this provision to zero, since the prison administration displays an arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable approach.

They may encourage or they may not. Therefore, for this provision to become a legislative norm, the word “MAY” should be replaced with "MUST”. Only in this case will those convicted strive to become law-abiding and display positive behavior.

Years ago, due to my persistence, I was able to achieve a legislative change. A convict could be a donor of organs and tissues for a close relative. (For reasons unknown, the legislature prohibited the prisoner to save the life of a relative). It might be possible to achieve the implementation of this and other legislative changes due to persistence.

I am sure that despite the difficulties, in all cases, we must continue to fight, demand and persevere, so that positive changes come soon.