Discussion on the results, objectives and perspectives of the activities of the Probation Service in the first year

On 18 January, a discussion on “the results, objectives and perspectives of the activities of the Probation Service in the first year” was held in Yerevan. The discussion was organised by the Civil Society Institute non-governmental organisation, jointly with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia. Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Suren Krmoyan, Head of the State Probation Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Arsen Navasardyan, Head of Civil Society Institute non-governmental organisation Artak Kirakosyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association Karen Zadoyan and others participated in the event.

According to Deputy Minister Suren Krmoyan, by launching the Probation Service, the Government of the Republic of Armenia stated and affirmed its will to introduce restorative justice systems, and this means that the aims of punishment can be achieved not only by holding persons within detention facilities, but also by re-socialising them. “A lot of major and fundamental changes have been made, and thanks to those changes, we recorded significant results last year. First of all, we can now say that the Probation Service has been established as a separate, independent institution, anchoring on the most important principle, according to which we consider
re-socialisation and the re-integration of a person into public life as execution of his or her punishment,” S. Krmoyan said.

The Deputy Minister of Justice added that the Probation Service has set, as a main goal, identification of all the needs of imprisoned persons and the carrying out of appropriate, targeted and individual activities as a result thereof.

Head of the Probation Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Arsen Navasardyan stated that quite a lot of activities have been carried out by the Service within a year and emphasised that the Probation Service is still in the stage of development. Afterwards, representatives from the State Probation Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Astghik Khachatryan and Aram Darbinyan introduced the results of the activities of the Service in the first year.

A question-and-answer session took place at the end of the meeting.

As of 29 December 2017, 3088 convicts are registered in the State Probation Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia.

Punishment has been imposed on 1866 persons, whereas 1412 of them are under supervision. Out of them, 1270 have been convicted to fines, 205 have been deprived of the right to occupy certain positions or perform certain activities, 391 are performing community service. Punishment in the form of imprisonment imposed on 1265 persons has not been conditionally executed, a probation period has been set, 137 have been granted conditional early release from penitentiary institutions, and punishment of 10 of them is postponed until their recovery or until their child attains the age of 3. Out of 3088 convicts, 190 have been convicted twice or are under supervision. Out of 3088 convicts, 332 are women and 47 are minors. During 2017, as a result of the fine executed as a type of punishment, almost AMD 227 million was transferred to the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia.