The trial of the case of 3 officers of "Armavir" Penitentiary Institution of the RA Ministry of Justice has finished at the Court of First Instance of Armavir Region.

 

In the course of the trial, it was substantiated that in November 2019 4 employees of the security department of the same institution were included in the guarding group formed by the order of the head of the penitentiary institution for guarding A. Sargsyan, a convict of "Armavir" penitentiary institution of the RA Ministry of Justice, who was transferred to "Vagharshapat Hospital" SCJSC for medical treatment. It turned out that 3 of them abused their official powers while guarding the convict in the medical institution, used their official position against the interests of the service, have not deliberately fulfilled their official duties, that is, have not provide permanent control over A. Sargsyan, they have not excluded his communication with other people, he was allowed to move freely and leave the hospital. Various people visited the hospital at different times with their permission and met the convict in the hospital or out of the hospital, handed him cell phones and alcohol, which were forbidden.

 

They have not prevented the commitment of new crime and the penetration of prohibited items, objects and food by means of personal search of the convict, search and seizure of the items. In the result, in the absence of permanent control in the hospital room, in the presence of the mobile phone, the convict illegally obtained a large amount of 16.61 grams of marijuana, illegally had it with him and transferred it to "Armavir" penitentiary institution of the RA Ministry of Justice where it was found and taken.

 

During the preliminary investigation carried out at the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia, based on the combination of sufficient evidence, the three mentioned employees of the penitentiary institution were charged under Article 308, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code.

 

According to the verdict of June 3, 2020, they were found guilty for committing the crimes initiated against them and an act of conviction was filed against them.

 

In another case being investigated by the RA Special Investigation Service, it was found out that another employee from the security department of "Nubarashen" penitentiary institution of the RA Ministry of Justice has taken to the penitentiary a forbidden item, i. e. Micromax mobile phone and handed over to a detainee on April 2, 2020.

 

With regard to the incident a criminal case was initiated on 3 April, 2020 by the Special Investigation Service under Article 308, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code and the employee admitted the fact of handing over the detainee the phone. It turned out that no phone cards were placed on the phone, no phone calls were made. On May 6, 2020, a decision was made to terminate the criminal case on the grounds of lack of corpus delicti and not prosecute.

 

However, taking into account the facts the preliminary investigation confirmed the violation of the established requirements by the employee, which is subject to adequate assessment in the framework of disciplinary proceedings, as well as for excluding such cases the Department of Supervision over Legality of Pre-trial Proceedings in the RA SIS of the RA Prosecutor General's Office addressed a motion to the head of "Nubarashen" Penitentiary Institution to conduct internal investigation.  

 

To this end the Prosecutor's Office has informed that the employee was dismissed by the order of the Head of the Penitentiary Institution, and in the results of the discussions of mediation, the Head of “Nubarashen” Penitentiary Institution instructed to pay more attention to receiving parcels, organizing meetings and conducting searches and examinations. Besides, special attention was paid to the measures undertaken to identify the ways of penetration of prohibited items and to find out the chain of those who are guilty ensuring the cooperation between the security, operative and other subdivisions of the institution.