Essay Contest in Armenian Correctional Institutions

The Civil Society Institute and Prison Reform International, with support from
the Government of Great Britain, are conducting an advocacy campaign on
signature and ratification of an Optional Protocol to the United Nations
Convention on Prevention of Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and
Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In the framework of the campaign, 4 prisons

(Vardashen, Abovyan, Kosh and Erebuni correctional institutions) functioning
under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, held a contest of essays on
topics of degrading treatment, torture, deprivation of liberty and dignity.
After having reviewed the works submitted to the contest (the submitted essays
were numbered and did not contain the author’s name), the jury found out that
that 3 of them were women from Abovian correctional institution, 10 were from
Vardashen, 5 from Kosh and the rest from Erebuni. Interestingly, 12 out of 24
essays were dedicated to the topic of deprivation of liberty and dignity. Five
essays were about torture, and 6 contained a general philosophical discourse
about the inmate’s right to life. The only departure from the rules of the
contest was a poetic series entitled “From morning till night” submitted by
Artyom Sargsyan, an inmate of Vardashen correctional institution, who received
an encouragement award.

“If I had money, I would have published all 24 essays. They are worth it,” says
a jury member, a writer Hrachya Matevossyan who, like all other jury members,
found it quite challenging to select the top 5 essays.

Below are some excerpts from the top 5 essays.

24 out of 24 hours

Excerpts from short listed essays

Seyran Ghahiryan, Kosh correctional institution

“Armenians were subjected to torture in Shushi prison, during the Karabagh war.
In 1990 – 1991 I, Seyran Ghahiryan, was tortured by Azeri militiamen. I was also
charged by the Azeri law enforcement with illicitly procuring and carrying arms
and ammunition under Article 220 of the Criminal Code. All Armenians, without
exception, were tortured. A staff of Nagorno Karabagh interior, a police major
Shahbazyan was tortured so much that he could not stand the wounds and injuries
and died in his prison cell. We, Armenians, were taken to Shahbazyan’s cell,
shown his corpse and told that the same destiny will befall all of us. They
tortured us for all kinds of reasons. First of all, because we were Armenians.
They claimed that we carried weapons not to defend our people but for the sole
purpose of killing more Azeris… I made several suicide attempts, but these were
prevented because I did not plan them well. After these attempts, the beating
and torture would intensify. One day, we heard a cannonade from a nearby
Armenian village. The bullets pierced the prison walls and spread awe and
terror. Only we Armenians rejoiced.”

Gnel Karamyan, Vardashen Correctional Institution

“It has been already three years since I became an inmate of this prison, and
the police squad who arrested me call me Ben Laden. When the vehicle by which I
was transported stopped at the police precinct, a policeman saw me from behind
the window, broke into a happy smile and cried cheerfully: They have brought Ben
Laden!”

His ridiculous outbreak of joy made me laugh, my last genuine laugh. I committed
a crime: killed a cab driver who was driving me to my destination.

They hit me on the head and dragged to the interrogation room, where some people
were waiting for me. I noticed an “ambulance”, a bucket full of water, standing
ready under the left window. Then they started an “octagonal room fight” without
rules. Kickboxing, karate, sambo, boxing…. The room with 4 corners had turned
into a one with 8 corners… Blows came from everywhere, hitting all parts of my
body. Unaware about the location of vital organs, the policemen hit randomly. If
there were any reasons for their brutality, it was their lack of knowledge of
anatomy,” writes one of tortured inmates, and continues, “the squad leader
roared louder than thunder in the skies. Like a tiger fearing to lose his prey,
he snatched me from the hands of all others and hit me in the jaw with all his
force. I fainted and fell on the floor… When I regained consciousness, I thought
I was at the mercy of an ogre who was about to take my scalp off.”

The essay of this author on the topic of dignity also received an award.

Alexander Galoyan, Vardashen

“In this rat race that we call life, we should take an occasional break and look
around (if we fear to look inside ourselves). From the most savage predators to
the most innocent ruminants, birds and fishes, everyone is fighting for survival
and becomes a part of the food chain, but they never devour one of their kin. It
is against their nature.“

Gnel Karamyan, Vardashen

“My father, who taught me more than one lesson about life from his vast
experience, used to tell me that the devil is not a horned creature with a tail.
The Satan is an evil with three faces, tempting us with cravings of the flesh,
money and power.

Everybody wants to be free. Everybody has something valuable in their lives,
parents, a sister, a brother, a child. But there is nobody to fight against all
this injustice, to put an end to everything unlawful that the inmates, their
relatives, and even the whole society, suffer from.”

A Poetic Essay

Artyom Sargsyan’s verses are a new word for those interested in “chamber poetry”

One moment you are a madman, and another minute you are a scientist

One moment you are a lover, and another minute you are an assassin

In his “”Innocent Guilty” poem, he writes:

They call it corrective work

But its name is suffering

They do not abuse you physically

But this plague eats your soul away

They do not care to see what really happened

And destroy you for nothing

Those who lived impeccable lives

They will become the guilty ones.

Encouragement award went to Martiros Ajemyan from Vardashen correctional
institution for a tale entitled A Story With A Sad End. Here is an artistic
description of the wind from that tale. “The fierce wind roared frantically in
the tree tops, blowing through forests and fields and then up to the mountain
tops; it span in its infinite circle, forcing yellow and dry leaves surrender
their place to impatient and white snow flakes.”

The jury awarded acknowledgement certificates to Rimma Muradyan, Narineh
Nalbandyan, Vrej Stepanyan, Azniv Baghdasaryan, Mesrop Nersissyan, Vazgen
Karapetyan, Jivan Grigoryan, V. Danielian, Hayk Vardanyan, Samvel Tonyan,
Ananyan, Nairi Shanramanyan, Vachagan Sahakyan, Artur Hakobyan.

“I know nothing, and back in the psychiatric ward, I received medications that
made my mind blurry and I could not understand anything, so if my writing comes
out well, it is only because the Armenian language is so perfect,” writes a
convict Mesrop Nersissyan in his carefully formatted essay. It ends with the
following statement: “I do not want to shape vain ideas and chase unreachable
European freedoms, as I know the end of it all; as I carry my cross, I long to
be useful to my nation that created and nurtured me.”

Ruzan Minassyan

Aravot Daily

29 October 2005