Epress.am News from Armenia
Currently, representatives of 9 NGOs that publicly monitor penal institutions in Armenia do not have the appropriate permits to enter the penitentiaries, said head of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office, Artur Sakunts told Epress.am today.
“I have already sent the appropriate letters to the penal administration and the RA Ministry of Justice, demanding to quickly resolve the technical disagreements between the [penal] management and the ministry, which has disrupted the work of our group,” he said.
Asked whether the internal disputes might’ve been intentionally created, Sakunts replied he did not wish make such allegations, but said they will be keeping a close eye on the situation.
“We exhaust all our options, then if we find that they intentionally created these technical issues, I will hold a press conference and issue a corresponding statement,” he said.
Referring to yesterday’s announcement by imprisoned journalist, chief editor of local daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”), Sakunts said what is happening with Pashinyan in the Artik penitentiary is an absolute violation of his rights.
“Depriving his connection with the outside world is a challenge to Nikol: they want to obstruct his journalistic work. Generally, one of the guarantees of prisoners’ security in penal institutions is the link to the outside world, and perhaps it’s due to the lack of this that Nikol came to the conclusion that his safety might be at risk,” he said.