Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

Head of “Kosh” penitentiary institution - L. Baghdasaryan does not present to the Court the matter of convict Artur M’s early release or change of punishment reasoning that the reports of Penitentiary Service and Probation Service on him are negative.

L. Baghdasaryan informed Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor about this on March 12, 2019.

The decision was made by the head of the penitentiary institution on February 21, 2019. It should be noted that in the conclusion (dated February 15) pertaining to convict Artur M., it is mentioned in all the points that the convict is characterized positively, is involved in the institution’s technical works, is indifferent towards the criminal subculture, admits the commission of the crime and considers the punishment to be proportionate. It is also mentioned that the convict has cooperated with the Probation Service, has never been subjected to a penalty and has been rewarded.

After giving a positive characterization in all the points, Probation Service Aragatsotn regional division’s chief official Gh. Nazaryan concludes at the end of the report that the convict has previously been convicted twice and consequently, as he claims, the risk of the recurrence of the crime is high. As a result, he does not consider it expedient to present the matter of early conditional release.

Let us present Gh. Nazaryan’s following noteworthy conclusion, “While serving his punishment, convict Artur M. had a positive conduct, the likelihood of the convict committing a new crime is high”. As it can be seen, there is no logical link between the two parts of the conclusion.

The representative of the Penitentiary Service made a report in the same logic. He gave Artur M. a positive assessment in all the points and again did not consider it expedient to present his case for early release.

These two reports served as a basis for L. Baghdasaryan – head of “Kosh” penitentiary institution – and on February 21, 2019, he decided that the matter of Artur M.’s early release or change of punishment would not be presented to the Court.

Here you can find L. Baghdasaryan’s decision and reports on Artur M. in full in Armenian.