Arpine Hovhannisyan on Artak Zeynalyan's Statements

Former Minister of Justice Arpine Hovhannisyan expressed her concerns regarding the statements made by current Justice Minister Artak Zeynalyan, stating that such remarks should not provoke ridicule from both public officials and uninformed individuals.

She specifically noted:

“Two days ago, Justice Minister Artak Zeynalyan announced that there are no complaints about the conditions in penitentiary institutions, no cell goes unsearched, there are no privileged inmates, there are no charges for beds, and cash is not circulating inside the facilities, etc.

I truly would not wish for the country’s Justice Minister to make statements that would elicit not only laughter from officials and professionals in the field but also from those who are not informed about the sector.

Convicts have friends, and at the very least, these individuals know what is happening in those institutions. Moreover, the minister seems to have no objection to logical fallacies.

In another statement, he proudly mentioned that they discover a significantly higher number of phones and Wi-Fi devices daily than the NSS does in a day. But... if they are discovering phones and Wi-Fi devices every day, it implies that these devices are being brought into the facilities in violation of established procedures, meaning that there is indeed money involved, as these items have a demand.

The penitentiary sector is one of the most painful and complex areas in our country, and various ministers of justice have tried to reform the system throughout history. However, no minister has ever allowed themselves to present minor or not-so-significant changes in the field as revolutionary progress. The situation will change slowly in this area, regardless of such announcements, and the causes are deep-rooted.

These statements are an exclusive symbiosis of criminal self-confidence and diligent delusion. No matter how pleasant it is to portray a desirable situation as reality, the reality remains reality. This is as much a reality as the idea that there is no corruption in Armenia, no monopolies, no oligarchs, and other similar populist nonsense.

PS: To preempt all comments about why I didn’t speak up back then, I will say that justice ministers back then did not suffer from an absurd level of self-confidence.