Robert Revazyan: Independent Commission was a complete failure (video)
The activities of an independent commission on termination of parole and the replacement of the unserved portion of the sentence with a more mild punishment are terminated. The reason is the change of the president's powers. However, everyone was dissatisfied with the commission's activities. "If rejecting was the commission's function, then it implemented it very well as it used to rejected. But if we consider its real function and what it was to do then we can say that it was a complete failure as the mechanism did not work in Armenia," said advocate Robert Revazyan. According to statistics, only 5 per cent of convicts submitting application is early released. The Government has a draft law, suggesting early release from punishment to be allowed to by the decision of the penitentiary and probation services. If the services give a negative conclusion, the convict has the right to appeal to courts. "Will the court examine the issue of ones early release or will it consider whether the conclusion of the probation service was true or not? This the first question. The second: if it will examine the issue of ones early release whether the cort will be able to make fair decisions? The courts have not reached the level of making just decisions yet," said Robert revazyan. The independent commission has never accepted the petitions of life-sentenced prisoners over the past 20 years. The lawyer refers to the rejection of Stepan Grigoryan's application who has been serving his sentence for 23 years. The reason for this is the identification of two phones over the years. "It's ridiculous. The phone is for keeping in touch with the family. And you deprive him of freedom because of that." Yesterday the decree of the commission on pardon issues was also annulled.
