What Happened at the Nubarashen Penitentiary: Clarification

Information had been received by the Penitentiary Service regarding one of the inmates at the Republic of Armenia’s Ministry of Justice Nubarashen Penitentiary. This inmate was reportedly disrupting the normal operations of the facility for a prolonged period to gain advantages over other prisoners, regularly making illegal demands and inciting other inmates to do the same.

The Penitentiary Service reported that, upon investigating the aforementioned information as part of its efforts to combat criminal subculture and other illegalities, a decision was made to transfer the inmate inciting violations and unrest to another penitentiary. Some arrested individuals and life-sentenced prisoners have expressed disobedience in support of this inmate, damaging property in the cells, burning mattresses, and striking the doors, among other actions.

Staff at the Nubarashen Penitentiary have repeatedly demanded the cessation of the disobedience in accordance with the law; however, these demands went unheeded. As a result, officers from the Service's special operations unit, together with the penitentiary staff, undertook special measures to eliminate the violations of internal regulations by the inmates. They were forcibly removed from their cells, and searches were conducted within the cells.

Following the actions taken, two inmates reported possible fractures; however, an X-ray examination conducted by the facility's medical personnel revealed no fractures in either case.