Responded to Mikayel Danielyan
Helsinki Association NGO President Mikayel Danielyan's comments at today's press conference did not remain unanswered. Danielyan had declared that his organization was prohibited from monitoring the penitentiaries.
In response to "A1+", Head of the Public Relations Division of the Penitentiary Department at the RA Ministry of Justice Arsen Babayan said Mikayel Danielyan's organization had been given the opportunity to monitor the penitentiaries in the first stage of the program "State of Human Rights in Armenia".
"We gave them the opportunity, but they took that opportunity with bad intentions," said Arsen Babayan.
According to him, the Penitentiary Department had suggested that the organization present the results of the monitoring, discuss them and receive comments and publish them, but that was ignored.
The Head of the Public Relations Division of the Penitentiary Department doesn't deny the fact that the penitentiaries have flaws, but says the Helsinki Association NGO is distorted and disseminates information that only tells one side of the story.
Arsen Babayan called on appealing to Head of the Public Monitoring Group in charge of Public Control at the penitentiaries and agencies, Artur Sakunts and ask how many times the report has been changed.
Touching upon Mikayel Danielyan's claim that the Ministry of Justice oversees the monitoring group's reports, lawyer, monitoring group member Edmon Marukyan told "A1+" that the minister writes a separate commentary and attaches it to the report without editing.
