Human rights activist: The death penalty is incompatible with the  principles of any legal state

ArmInfo.The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia is deeply mistaken when it refers to the absence of direct legal international obligations of the country on  the issue of absolute prohibition of the death penalty.

The Republic undertook a similar obligation by signing and ratifying Protocol 13  of the European Convention on Human Rights. A similar opinion was  expressed to ArmInfo by human rights activist Artur Sakunts,  commenting on the Attorney General's proposal to impose the death  penalty for high treason.

Yesterday, on September 1, Prosecutor General of Armenia Artur  Davtyan addressed Chairman of the Council of Constitutional Reforms,  Minister of Justice of Armenia Karen Andreasyan with a proposal to  create constitutional and legal grounds for the application of the  death penalty for high treason.

Meanwhile, according to the human rights activist, even the absence  of such international obligations does not mean that the death  penalty can be applied in Armenia as a punishment. "Such an approach,  such thinking itself, is incompatible with the principles of any  legal state. High treason can be punished in other ways, in the end,  life imprisonment. Delegating the right to take a person's life by  society to the state is fundamentally unacceptable," he emphasized.

The Prosecutor General's initiative has already met opposition from  Human Rights Defender of Armenia, member of the Council for  Constitutional Reforms Kristinne Grigoryan. The latter emphasized the  inappropriateness of the very discussion of such a proposal, in view  of the violation of constitutional and democratic values, the  protection of the right to life and human rights in general.  

In this light, the human rights activist had doubts about the degree  of familiarization of the RA Prosecutor General with the 13th  protocol of the European Convention, which clearly and unambiguously  fixes the inviolability of the human right to life and abolishes the  death penalty as a punishment.

"I do not think that such a decision can be made in our country,  because it will obviously be a big step back in the development of  democracy. The right to human life is inalienable, and many  justifications have been presented in favor of this thesis. Armenia  cannot and will not be executed, regardless of the type of crime  committed," Sakunts summed up.