www.aravot.am inquired of Naira Zohrabyan, the secretary of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) parliamentary group, which part of the Justice Minister’s speech made her realize that it was still an ordinary thing for him that convicts sewed their mouths and eyes. She replied,
“They claim that yes, this is an ordinary thing, they do it for 13-14 times, so it is normal. However, even if one does it for 13-14 times, it should be extraordinary every time, it should be abnormal, it should be out of order; this is the problem. I think that the respected minister shouldn’t respond to a question so emotionally. Even if one does it for 100 times, it should be abnormal, extraordinary every time. It wasn’t understandable for me that this issue was politicized by saying that a political force that had ambitions… you know what, I said and I repeat maximalism doesn’t yield any positive results in any issue. I think we should solve the problems along with the Ministry of Justice. This will not be the only case. We will be consistent in solving problems in this field, in solving problems that are under legislative regulation through legislation.”
Naira Zohrabyan is not worried that the head of the correctional institutions department doesn’t come to the parliamentary hearings. According to her, the minister himself has leverage, he is a superior official, “Unfortunately, the direct dialogue wasn’t successful, but I hope that we will be able to optimally work with the ministry too. We will find joint solutions, involving also the public sector, the Ombudsman’s office. We should try to find systemic solutions as a result of different institutions’ joint work. This shouldn’t be a problem to be solved only by the parliament. We should join our efforts, and the more tolerant we are toward each other’s opinions, ideas and the less we try to politicize the problem, the easier we will find solutions.”
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Hripsime JEBEJYAN
