Human rights defender slams former prosecutor general for suggesting to change constitution to allow death penalty for treason
YEREVAN, September 1. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Kristine Grigoryan slammed today the already former Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan for suggesting to amend the Constitution to allow death penalty for treason.
In a statement posted on the website of the Office of Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan says a research of several criminal proceedings, instituted on cases of treason committed during the 44-day war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and after it has revealed frequent cases of treason, recruitment of Armenian citizens by enemy’s special services. In his opinion, there is a need to apply the severest punishment, up to the death penalty, to those who have committed the above-mentioned acts.
In a retaliatory statement the Human Rights Defender says she is too concerned about the crimes against state security, recorded during the 44-day war and after it, but at the same time, she believes that in order to eliminate such crimes it is necessary to carry out more effective preventive work.
"In other words, solutions to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies, including those engaged in operational and search and counterintelligence activities, should not be sought in downplaying the human rights and freedoms and other values enshrined in the Constitution," the Human Rights Defender says.
In addition, as pointed out in her statement, ‘the indisputable truth is that the effectiveness of the preventive function of the criminal policy is determined not only and not so much by the severity of punishment for a criminal act, as by ensuring the inevitability of punishment for the offense.’
The Human Rights Defender, also as a member of the Constitutional Reform Council, does not consider it appropriate even to discuss such a proposal, as it greatly overshadows the constitutional and democratic values of the right to life and the protection of human rights, in general.
Death penalty has not been completely annulled in Armenia. A de-facto moratorium on executions is in effect based on the president's constitutional right to issue a pardon. According to the official data, no death sentence has been executed in Armenia since 1991.
The Criminal Code of Armenia envisages capital punishment for such crimes as treason, espionage, terrorism, crimes against the state, banditry and some others. -0-
