Roughest Constitution in the world
An exhibition of hand-made works portraying the book of Narek and the Bible prepared by over 32 prisoners at the seven penitentiaries in Armenia opened today. The RA Constitution was also presented at the exhibition.
In light of the 16th anniversary of the RA Constitution, the RA Ministry of Justice and the "Support to Prisoners" Foundation today opened an exhibition with the participation of RA Minister of Justice Hrair Tovmasyan, who is also a member of the Foundation's board of trustees. Tovmasyan purchased a painting and called on everyone to purchase works of art as well.
The painting of a landscape that the minister purchased was created by a prisoner that had been sentenced to prison for forging the works by well-known Armenian painters. The minister mentioned that he would call on that prisoner to create his own works when he visits his penitentiary.
What also captivated Hrair Tovmasyan was the "wooden" RA Constitution. According to Tovmasyan, the presentation of the Constitution at the exhibition was symbolic to a certain extent.
"There is no country in the world where Constitution or the laws are not violated. If the laws were not violated, we wouldn't have police, penitentiaries and a court," Tovmasyan said, smiling and underlined that the RA Constitution is the world's roughest Constitution and that it is not so easy to change it.
According to him, there is a need for making certain amendments in the Constitution, but in 2005, it was possible to free the country from the person-centered political system established in the 1995 Constitution and make the transition to the semi-presidential system.
Touching upon the current state of penitentiaries, Tovmasyan stressed that they were similar to Soviet institutions that can't correct prisoners. "There have to be separate cells where the biggest penalty must be the deprivation of liberty," the minister said, adding that the punishment is not playing the main role that it has to play and that is why there are more prisoners committing crimes twice.
