Outcomes of " "Abovyan" Penitentiary Institution: Establishing a Culture of Restoration, Effectiveness and Transparency" Programme summed up

Today, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Suren Krmoyan participated in the concluding event of the " "Abovyan" Penitentiary Institution: Establishing the Culture of Restoration, Effectiveness and Transparency" Programme. The event was jointly held by the Ministry of Justice, the Civil Society Institute and the U.S. Embassy in Armenia. Among those attending the meeting were Head of "Abovyan" Penitentiary Institution Gaiane Vardanyan, Deputy Director of the "Legal Education and Rehabilitation Programmes Implementation Centre" SNCO Gaiane Hovakimyan, Director of the Civil Society Institute Artak Kirakosyan and others.

Greeting the attendees, Deputy Minister Suren Krmoyan expressed gratitude to all those who were engaged in making the event a success, namely all the employees of the Civil Society Institute, for their effective and professional work. Suren Krmoyan also expressed his words of gratitude to the U.S. Embassy for providing financial assistance and implementing the idea. "The Ministry of Justice worked intensively and with responsibility to implement the programme, and I fully hope that the introduced values are consistently preserved and that we witness the continuity of those values," the Deputy Minister noted.

S. Krmoyan also presented the complex activities for the functioning of rehabilitative justice at penitentiary institutions, including the physical and mental health, education, ensuring of employment, implementation of business ideas of convicts, etc. In this context, the Deputy Minister emphasised that "Abovyan" Penitentiary Institution is one of the best penitentiary institutions where there are sufficient resources for the conditions for keeping and for organising full-fledged education. "For instance, convicts now have the opportunity to be involved in sports and yoga, gain computer, culinary and hairdressing skills and obtain relevant certificates, learn English, have command of the subtleties of carpet weaving, braiding and pottery, as well as become engaged in the processes of digitisation of books," the Deputy Minister noted, adding that the effectiveness of the complex activities is not only noticeable and commendable for the professionals, experts of the sector and government agencies, but is also appreciated by the convicts themselves.

Director of the Civil Society Institute Artak Kirakosyan summed up the outcomes of the programme and provided details about the completed activities, the problems that had emerged and the paths that are preferable for providing solutions to those problems.

Among others attending the concluding event of the programme were representatives of the Staff of the Human Rights Defender, experts, as well as specialists having completed teaching tasks with the convicts within the scope of the programme.