On October 8, at the Nubarashen Penitentiary of the Ministry of Justice, journalist Suzan Simonyan and I met with Armen Ter-Sahakyan, who was sentenced to life in prison in the case surrounding former Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Siradeghyan and who has been on hunger strike since September 27.
Armen Ter-Sahakyan has been in prison since 1998, after which he spent 21 years in Nubarashen prison. He himself wanted to meet with us, and the penitentiary service allowed journalists to enter the penitentiary after the relevant procedure.
At the moment of the conversation with the hunger striker, he was finally provided with the Prosecutor of the Department for Control over the Legality of Punishment and Enforcement of Coercive Measures of the RA Prosecutor’s Office G. Isakhanyan’s September 16th decision regarding why he was brought back to Nubarashen penitentiary to a semi-closed institution instead of being transferred to the Vardashen semi-open correctional facility. According to the decision, the prosecutor requested that the Placement Commission reconsider the decision No. 474 made on July 28.
“What does Isakhanyan want, what do they want from a 25-year prisoner? The prosecutor’s office has nothing to do with changing the regime. I am not involved in the murder. I have nothing to hide. I demand an official investigation, for which my penitentiary has been changed twice. You have adopted a law so that I can go out and adapt. How am I going to enter life if you say, ‘Die, enough?'” Ter-Sahakyan said. He said that in 2003, after the adoption of the RA Criminal Code until amendments to the law were made in 2011, in other words, over the course of 8 years, more than 60 people were sentenced to life imprisonment. And from 2011 to now, 2 people were sentenced to life imprisonment for 10 years, including a foreigner, Permyakov.
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Ruzan Minasyan
