We Do Not Have a Decision on Amnesty for Convicts: Minister of Justice

We do not have a decision to implement an amnesty, because we believe that the state must show an individual approach to each imprisoned person, rather than deciding at a certain moment to release individuals from categories X, Y, and Z. This was stated by Minister of Justice Surbhi Galeyan during a joint session of the National Assembly's Standing Committees on State and Legal Affairs and Financial-Budgetary Issues, responding to the question posed by MP Garnik Danielyan.

“I am not in favor of the viewpoint that only the courts should decide whether to conditionally early release a person from punishment or not. We have a lot of work to do in this regard, and in fact, work is being done to individualize the resocialization plans and assessment methodologies for specific individuals. I believe that in the future, thanks to the work we have done, the quality of the reports presented to the courts will significantly improve, and the courts will take our reports into account and apply the mechanism for conditional early release more frequently. We wish to address the specific issues of people through this approach,” said Galeyan.

“The Penitentiary Service has adopted an individual approach towards those deprived of liberty, and meetings of the distribution commission are taking place more frequently. Of course, we have legal time limitations, but I want the public to be assured that each specific case is meticulously examined, and we are more inclined to provide individuals with the opportunity to serve their sentence in a milder security zone,” Galeyan added.