A Major Uprising is Brewing: Inmates Sound Alarm, Says 'Joughour' Newspaper

Inmates are ringing alarm bells, stating that if things continue as they are, a major uprising is imminent. Specifically, according to inmates, on November 24, 2023, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan commented on why the Armenian authorities have not declared amnesty for five years, saying, 'Having come out of a correctional institution through amnesty in 2011, I want to say that I do not consider amnesty an effective institution because I have seen it from the inside. In many cases, those released through amnesty return within months due to committing new crimes.'

The 'Joughour' newspaper reports: According to him, it is more expedient in this case to apply the mechanism of conditional early release, that is, to assess at an individual level whether the specific person can remain free or not, rather than mechanically preventing release.

Moreover, according to inmates, on February 22, 2024, the Supreme Court made a decision that deteriorated the process of early release for inmates, and the previous opportunity for conditional serving of sentences for crimes committed has become unequal treatment towards individuals, violating their rights. In other words, anyone who was released early before February 22, 2024, was released, while a person who committed the same act and whose early release date is after February 22, 2024, must serve the remaining sentence.

'This situation has worsened for us, and uproar is inevitable. We are fighting for conditional early release, while the situation is becoming more complicated for us,' they state.

As for the decision made by the Supreme Court, the point is that after the changes to the criminal code, the issue of early release for inmates had been improved, and the inmates were confident that the court would be guided by the new code, and they would be released sooner. However, the Supreme Court decided that the new changes in the criminal code would not affect the inmates, and they would continue to serve their sentences according to the standards of the old code.