Armenian parliament approves amnesty law amid protests

Armenian MPs adopted the law on amnesty in the first reading. The pardon will affect more than 6500 people, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) reported. The hearing was held against the background of a protest held by relatives of prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment who demanded that the amnesty should be extended to them.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the amnesty is timed to the 100th anniversary of the First Republic and the 2800th anniversary of the founding of Yerevan. The amnesty will be the largest in the history of the country.

"There are cases when defendants were sentenced on the basis of the testimony given by only one witness ... There are the prisoners who committed crimes when they were younger than 21 years old, and there are people with disabilities. The authorities should show humanity to them too," said Fenya Kocharyan, a mother of sentenced Arthur Kocharyan.

According to Gevorg Kostanyan, the chair of the parliamentary commission on state and legal issues and the protection of human rights, the amnesty law balances the interests of prisoners and victims to the maximum.

"It is impossible not to take into account the rights of a parent whose child has become disabled or was killed. Humanism should also be shown to the injured party," noted the chair of the parliamentary commission.

Otherwise, according to him, the European Convention on Human Rights will be violated.

According to the MoJ, 93 people sentenced to life imprisonment are serving their sentences in Armenia.