Drug Addiction Prevalent in Armenia Prisons: Human Rights Activist

In Armenia’s penal institutions, prisoners, if not 100% then 99%, are deprived of drugs, said Arsen Babayan, head of the public relations office at the justice ministry’s penal institutions department, at a press conference in Yerevan today.

According to him, there is large fight against drugs. On the topic of inhaling gasoline as a drug, Babayan said, “The problem is not purely inside the prisons as much as it is outside.”

Also present at the press conference was Artur Sakunts, head of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office and head of the civic group monitoring Armenia’s prison, who said that despite the fight against drugs, there is a real prevalence of drug addiction in prisons.

“A narcotics division [just] opened In the Hospital for Detainees — this means the problem exists per se,” said Sakunts, who noted that prisoners are also swapping syringes.