“The purpose of granting amnesty should not be to unload detention centers,” Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan told reporters, adding that such an outlook on amnesty tends to be due to the fact that authorities did not lead using the correct fundamentals regarding issues of imprisonment.
“The presumption of trust needs to be used towards people stripped of their freedom. Individualized activities need to be carried out and the person needs to be prepared for slow release. But what have we done over the years? We kept the individual in isolated conditions, and we did not conduct any activities with them in terms of social psychology. Then, in the end, we simply said ‘you know, you’re not ready to be released yet,’” Arman Tatoyan said.
According to the Human Rights Defender, the state cannot tell a person that they are not ready to be freed after failing to carry out its positive responsibilities. “Fundamental changes need to be made. Solving the issue of unloading or having a dense population is very important, but no one should have the impression that this is the only problem. Our detention centers have many problems. You cannot judge a person based solely on the nature of their crime, as according to international law. Justice is not finished behind bars. We must always give people opportunities. We will continuously speak about these problems.”
Nelly Grigoryan
