RA Court of Appeals decided that Vigen Navasardyan who suffers terminal illness should not be granted an early release because he had been convicted 4 times in the past and committed grave crime.  

This decision was issued by the Court of Appeals on March 22, 2011. Thus, decision of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Norq Marash administrative districts was left unchanged.

«Navasardyan only wants to be released and die in the calm conditions. Just recently doctors removed a lot of water from his body and he is in the extremely bad state of health», says Laura Gasparyan, member of the Group of Public Observers Conducting Public Monitoring of Penitentiary Institutions and Bodies of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia.

Navasardyan was convicted the last, fifth time, in June of 2001 by the Court of General Jurisdiction of Achapnyak and Davidashen administrative districts on 26.06.2007 based on the Article 175 (1-3) of the RA Criminal Code (Banditry.  i.e. an assault for the purpose of capturing someone's property, committed with violence dangerous for life or health, or with a threat to commit such violence, committed by a group with prior agreement in particularly large amount with the purpose of theft by illegal entering an apartment, warehouse or facility).

On February 14, 2011 Interdepartmental Medical Commission gave the following diagnosis for Navasardyan : Nodular Atrophic Hepatocirrhosis,  Ascites, Hepatolienal syndrome, liver cell deficiency of the third stage of decompensation , chronic bronchitis, duodenal ulcer, erosive antrum gastritis.

Taking into account these facts, administration of the penitentiary institution "Convicts' Hospital" submitted a petition to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork Marash administrative districts to apply Article 432 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code to Navasardyan and to exempt him from punishment due to illness. The petition was disallowed with the following reasoning.

"Based on the convict Vigen (Tsolak) Navasardyan's personal history, it is clear that V. Navasardyan had been previously convicted 4 times, including for grave crimes, is not following the way of correction and after release or release on parole committed grave crimes", stressed out in the decision of the court.

Laura Gasparyan, member of The Group of Public Observers Conducting Public Monitoring
of Penitentiary Institutions and Bodies of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, 
informed www.hra.am that he is not the only sick who have the right to be exempt from
further serving the sentence by law and die in the calm conditions.   

 "According to my observation, at the moment there are 5 or 6 people with such a bad state of health, their cases proceeded by courts and there is a likelihood they will die before the release is issued for them. Still there is a hope as there were precedents of release in the past. Last year we had one such case from the "Vardashen" penitentiary institution when people were exempt from further serving the sentence thanks to our consistent steps", says Laura Gasparyan.

Human rights defender Avetik Ishkhanyan stresses out that such a position of the court in the given situation is inhumane and subjective. If the Ministry of Health decides that the convicts should be exempt from further serving the sentence in the case of suffering the illnesses defined by law for release, dismissal of the Court is qualified by the human rights activist as «incomprehensible».

Karine Ionesyan

Source: www.hra.am