Minster Zeynalyan receives members of Delegation of the International Committee of Red Cross in Armenia

On 15 August, Minister of Justice Artak Zeynalyan received the delegation headed by Temporary Acting Head of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Armenia Dominic Liegm.

Greeting the guests, Minister Zeynalyan highly appreciated the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Armenia and expressed willingness for further deepening of the co-operation.

During the meeting, the parties touched upon a number of issues concerning protection of the rights of persons deprived of liberty and the development of law.

Particularly, Dominic Liegm touched upon the opportunity of video call introduced for foreign convicts at "Abovyan", "Vardashen" and "Nubarashen" Penitentiary Institutions within the scope of a pilot project jointly implemented by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Ministry of Justice, noting that a positive result was recorded and that, by continuing the co-operation with the Ministry, an opportunity to benefit from video call will also be introduced at other penitentiary institutions and the scope of convicts benefiting from that means will be expanded in the near future.

In this context, Artak Zeynalyan also underlined that short visits of life-sentenced prisoners had been doubled for the purpose of strengthening family ties, and if relevant conditions are ensured, the number of long visits will be reviewed as well.

During the meeting, the projects being implemented with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 18 borderline communities and the procedures for implementation of those projects were also touched upon.

Minister Zeynalyan also enquired from the representatives of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Armenia about the actions of the International Committee of the Red Cross relating to Karen Ghazaryan, a 34-year-old resident of Berdavan community of Tavush Marz arrested in Azerbaijan, and asked to visit him more frequently taking into consideration his health condition and the circumstance that Azerbaijan presents him as a military servicemen, even though he is a civilian.

At the end of the meeting, the parties expressed mutual satisfaction with the high level of the existing co-operation and expressed willingness to deepen it.