ArmInfo.Prisoners in Armenia will have more time to meet with relatives. The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and the package of related laws were approved at the November 1 meeting of the RA government.
According to Acting Justice Minister Artur Hovhannisyan, the package was developed jointly with the office of the Human Rights Defender and is aimed at the realization of human rights. In particular, when transferring a prisoner from one criminal-correctional institution to another, the opinion of his relatives and friends should be taken into account in order to ensure communication between them. In addition to short- term meetings, long-term meetings are also provided. The current legislation did not allow for long-term meetings. Prisoners are also scheduled to meet with their children in orphanages. The size of permitted purchases made by prisoners will increase from 30 thousand to 60 thousand AMD, which, according to Artur Hovhannisyan, is necessary taking into account inflationary processes. It is also proposed to allow convicts to life imprisonment in the same cell as other prisoners. Currently, this right does not apply to them. Prisoners will have the opportunity to have ID cards.
The Deputy Minister stressed that at present, work is underway to open and furnish rooms of 6-7 square meters for dating prisoners with their relatives.
As noted at the meeting of the Government Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, there is a fear that a number of provisions of the presented document will not be fulfilled for the simple reason that the situation in the penitentiary institutions is shameful. In addition, the presented package may lead to new corruption risks. He called on the country's Ministry of Justice to intensify work with international structures in order to solve existing problems in the country's penitentiary institutions.