Arthur Kocharyan, now serving a life sentence in Armenia’s Armavir Penitentiary, anxiously paced the hallway before receiving his high school equivalency diploma on February 19.

Kocharyan, now thirty-nine, has spent the last twenty years behind bars after being found guilty of killing a fellow army soldier, a charge he denies.

He is thinking of enrolling in a university and getting a degree in psychology after receiving the certificate. Ten other  convicts received a secondary education certificate that day.

Kocharyan continued his school education right in the penitentiary when Armenia  abolished the age limit for convicts to study. Along with the certificate, he received a certificate of appreciation for high academic performance.

The convict recalls that at the age of fourteen he asked his teacher if Ddmashen was one of the villages of Aparan. The teacher, who was originally from Aparan, took that question as offensive. Later, when Artur learned that the teacher was originally from Aparan, he apologized but was not forgiven. Kocharyan says they decided to keep the boy in the same class, but he voluntarily left school. He started working, then joined the army, and from there ended up in jail on charges of killing a fellow soldier. The indictment and verdict, based on the testimony of one of his fellow soldiers that changed six times, were periodically modified and addended.

“Thank God, the incident of being left out of school did not depress me, and today I have a certificate. I also express my gratitude to my teacher. Education in penitentiary institutions is the best thing that convicts can receive. Even if there is no opportunity to attend school inside the penitentiary, you should self-educate yourself in the conditions of your cell, this is my advice to all convicts,” says A. Kocharyan.

Jasmena Ter-Hovhannisyan, who turns seventy next month, has been teaching in Armenia’s penitentiaries for twenty-five years. She commutes to Armavir   from Yerevan once a week and teaches convicts to work with clay.

Ter-Hovhannisyan says her two children died at the age of five and seven and that the love that she couldn’t give her children she gives to the incarcerated.

She believes many in Armenia have misconceptions about convicts. She says that there are honest and decent people among them.

The awarding of certificates and diplomas for convicts at the “Armavir” Penitentiary was organized by the Ministry of Justice’s Department for Legal Education and Rehabilitation and the Penitentiary Service.  

Top photo: Artur Kocharyan