Epress.am News from Armenia
Because of discrimination in Israeli prisons, Russian-speaking inmates do not receive parole, reports Mignews.com.
Yesterday, the Israel Bar Association joined the lawsuit against the Israel Prison Service (Shabas) launched by lawyer Alexander Gambaryan, a member of the committee to supervise order in Israeli prisons, to stop discrimination against Russian-speaking prisoners.
Prisoners in Israeli prisons are entitled to parole after serving two-thirds of their sentence, which means they can spend the remainder of their sentence outside the prison walls. However, to be released early, prisoners must pass a special psychotherapy course, and this is where the discrimination against Russian-speaking inmates begins.
The courses are group therapy sessions which are conducted in Hebrew. As a rule, Russian-speaking inmates don’t know Hebrew, so they don’t undergo the psychotherapy sessions and thus, are not eligible for parole.
Proceedings of the suit filed by Gambaryan against the Israel Prison Service have already lasted a year and a half. Prison management recognizes that discrimination occurs, but also notes the government doesn’t have funds to allocate from the country’s budget toward offering therapies in Russian.