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`Youth Justice' to apply to 20 life-termers in Armenia
12:12 - 11.01.14
The `Youth Justice' project, intended to exempt young felons from life
sentence, is going to be incorporated into Armenia's Criminal Code to
apply to life termers aged 21 or under, says a member of the working
group elaborating the proposal.
`It is planned to exclude life imprisonment for [individuals] aged 21
and under. Naturally, it will have a retroactive effect as a
mitigating circumstance,' Ara Gabuzyan, a criminal law professor at
the Yerevan State University, told Tert.am.
The proposed amendment to the Criminal Code will apply to about 21
young Armenian termers if enacted.
`The cases will be automatically revised, and it implies, that their
punishment will be reduced to the maximum timeframes stipulated for in
the Criminal Code,' said the specialist.
The problem of life imprisonment has 22 years' history in Armenia.
Human right activists, together with Zaruhi Mezhlumyan, a public
journalist in charge for theArmenian Innocence Project, have been
conducting lobbying ever since to raise the age limit to 21, but the
ice hasn't broken yet.
In several European countries (Sweden, Germany, Belgium etc), felons
not meeting the specified age limit criteria are not only exempted
from life sentence but also convicted in accordance with norms
envisaged for the underage.
Mezhlumyan says there are now 21 such young life-termers in Armenia,
with 14 of them having been convicted for crimes committed during
military service.
`I took up journalism three years ago, and we have observed blatant
violations. In my articles, have repeatedly stressed the necessity of
re-opening old criminal cases, calling for an individual revision, but
[my demands met] stony indifference; none of the cases was revised,'
she told Tert.am.
Mezhlumyan said a study of the cases, which she initiated later, were
absolutely inadequate.
`For instance, a life imprisonment ruling was issued based on evidence
obtained from a forensic-biological examination of a corpse; no expert
examination of material evidence was conducted,' she said, bringing
examples from the cases studied.
Mezhlumyan said the possibility of a judicial error is accepted even
by countries having strongly enhanced judiciary systems. In countries
like Armenia, where imperfection of the judiciary strikes the eye of
even the authorities, it is pointless to talk about the percentage of
such errors, said the journalist.
Innocence Project, which has voiced concern over the problem based on
letters from convicts, has managed to have several cases revised after
obtaining the results of DNA tests, as well as available material
evidence.
In the United Kingdom, over 300 convicts sentenced for life or
long-term imprisonment have returned to freedom after being acquitted.
In 75 percent of those cases, rulings were issued based on witness
evidence.
President of Armenian Helsinki Committee Avetik Ishkhanyan says a
society demonstrating indifference to imprisoned people, is more
likely to have a prejudiced opinion on those sentenced for life.
`What comes to mind by saying a `life-termer' is that they may have
committed an utterly grave crime, but no regard is paid to our
judicial system,' he told our correspondent.
Ishkhanyan and other Armenian human rights activists say they don't
think it is right to return a life imprisonment verdict against a
person accused of only one murder. With that purpose, they have
submitted a proposal to different parliamentary factions.
Gabuzyan, as legal professional, considers the proposal wrong from the
point of view of applying the legal technique. `Just imagine one
person's murder committed in strikingly brutal circumstances, such as
dismembering him or her alive. Aren't we supposed to envisage life
imprisonment for that?'
Dwelling on the problem further, Gabuzyan said special criteria could
be introduced to the Criminal Code to narrow courts' chances of
subjective manipulations.
Armenian News - Tert.am
12:12 - 11.01.14
The `Youth Justice' project, intended to exempt young felons from life
sentence, is going to be incorporated into Armenia's Criminal Code to
apply to life termers aged 21 or under, says a member of the working
group elaborating the proposal.
`It is planned to exclude life imprisonment for [individuals] aged 21
and under. Naturally, it will have a retroactive effect as a
mitigating circumstance,' Ara Gabuzyan, a criminal law professor at
the Yerevan State University, told Tert.am.
The proposed amendment to the Criminal Code will apply to about 21
young Armenian termers if enacted.
`The cases will be automatically revised, and it implies, that their
punishment will be reduced to the maximum timeframes stipulated for in
the Criminal Code,' said the specialist.
The problem of life imprisonment has 22 years' history in Armenia.
Human right activists, together with Zaruhi Mezhlumyan, a public
journalist in charge for theArmenian Innocence Project, have been
conducting lobbying ever since to raise the age limit to 21, but the
ice hasn't broken yet.
In several European countries (Sweden, Germany, Belgium etc), felons
not meeting the specified age limit criteria are not only exempted
from life sentence but also convicted in accordance with norms
envisaged for the underage.
Mezhlumyan says there are now 21 such young life-termers in Armenia,
with 14 of them having been convicted for crimes committed during
military service.
`I took up journalism three years ago, and we have observed blatant
violations. In my articles, have repeatedly stressed the necessity of
re-opening old criminal cases, calling for an individual revision, but
[my demands met] stony indifference; none of the cases was revised,'
she told Tert.am.
Mezhlumyan said a study of the cases, which she initiated later, were
absolutely inadequate.
`For instance, a life imprisonment ruling was issued based on evidence
obtained from a forensic-biological examination of a corpse; no expert
examination of material evidence was conducted,' she said, bringing
examples from the cases studied.
Mezhlumyan said the possibility of a judicial error is accepted even
by countries having strongly enhanced judiciary systems. In countries
like Armenia, where imperfection of the judiciary strikes the eye of
even the authorities, it is pointless to talk about the percentage of
such errors, said the journalist.
Innocence Project, which has voiced concern over the problem based on
letters from convicts, has managed to have several cases revised after
obtaining the results of DNA tests, as well as available material
evidence.
In the United Kingdom, over 300 convicts sentenced for life or
long-term imprisonment have returned to freedom after being acquitted.
In 75 percent of those cases, rulings were issued based on witness
evidence.
President of Armenian Helsinki Committee Avetik Ishkhanyan says a
society demonstrating indifference to imprisoned people, is more
likely to have a prejudiced opinion on those sentenced for life.
`What comes to mind by saying a `life-termer' is that they may have
committed an utterly grave crime, but no regard is paid to our
judicial system,' he told our correspondent.
Ishkhanyan and other Armenian human rights activists say they don't
think it is right to return a life imprisonment verdict against a
person accused of only one murder. With that purpose, they have
submitted a proposal to different parliamentary factions.
Gabuzyan, as legal professional, considers the proposal wrong from the
point of view of applying the legal technique. `Just imagine one
person's murder committed in strikingly brutal circumstances, such as
dismembering him or her alive. Aren't we supposed to envisage life
imprisonment for that?'
Dwelling on the problem further, Gabuzyan said special criteria could
be introduced to the Criminal Code to narrow courts' chances of
subjective manipulations.
Armenian News - Tert.am