ArmInfo.The Armenian government approved the draft amendments to the Criminal Code and a package of related laws on March 29 that regulate issues related to the early release of prisoners or the easing of sentences.
According to Justice Minister David Harutyunyan, the amendments are aimed at bringing the current legislation of the country into compliance with the requirements of the RA Constitution. Since the authority of the RA President on early release or mitigation of the term of punishment has changed, the system for resolving this issue is also changing. From now on, the issues of early release or mitigation of the sentence will be dealt with by an independent commission. Conceptual approaches to the solution of this issue are changing. In particular, it is proposed to introduce two more services - the penal correction and the probation service. When submitting an application from a convicted person, both services in parallel mode and independently from each other will have to conduct research on the behavior of the prisoner, assess the risks of committing repeated crimes in the future. In the event that both services issue a positive opinion, the matter is transferred to the court. If there is a negative opinion from one of the services, the prisoner will have the right to demand consideration of the matter in court. And if there are negative conclusions from both structures, the prisoner in court will have the opportunity to challenge these decisions.