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This measure of Pikeshre is not about me at all, but to draw attention to the problem of all political prisoners. Narek Samsonyan

This measure of Pikeshre is not about me at all, but to draw attention to the problem of all political prisoners. Narek Samsonyan

Narek Samsonyan, who announced a 10-day hunger strike, sent another message from the Armavir prison, which specifically states: "Warm greetings from "Armavir" prison. Today my hunger strike enters the symbolic 10th day. During these 10 days, I followed the public reactions on a daily basis and today I want to express my gratitude to all the people who stood by me and our team during these days and supported us during our daily struggle, from public figures to MPs, from ordinary concerned citizens to individual structures and parties, and especially the media. The main goal of a hunger strike, an extreme measure of struggle, even in the case of hunger strikes known all over the world, has never been and cannot be achieving the fulfillment of a demand from the authorities. The most effective hunger strikes of all time were aimed at suppressing wrongdoers with public support. And the most important psychological incentives for a person applying for an extreme measure of struggle are both broad public support and especially the silence of "friends". In recent days, I have had the opportunity to experience both the first and second of the above impulses. This means of struggle is not about me at all, and the most important of my goals is to draw attention to the problem of all political prisoners, to ask all political and public forces to at least join forces in the issue of political prisoners. After announcing the hunger strike, about 40% of that unification was achieved, but unfortunately, 40% is far from 100%, and let's hope that this ice will be broken eventually. The silence of those sitting hot outside is puzzling for a person slandered for political thought. I am sure that in the future all this will also be appreciated, but now is the time to take a united stand on the issue of political prisoners.

19.01.2026

The investigation into the trafficking case involving a helpless victim has been completed.

The investigation into the trafficking case involving a helpless victim has been completed.

The preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings initiated in connection with the incident of trafficking a helpless person by a person in the Lori Marz Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Committee has been completed. During the preliminary investigation, it was found that GH, being aware of L.Sh's helpless state, that is, having problems related to mental health, continuously exploited him for a long time, during the last 10 years. In particular, GH took L.S. out of the latter's apartment and placed him in an adjoining building with worse living conditions, providing minimal living conditions, and converted and used the same apartment as a home and a storage room for his personal belongings, putting a separate lock on the entrance and keeping the key with him. In addition, GH made L.Sh work for free in cultivating the land and garden near his house, taking care of the chickens kept in the victim's apartment, took from him the pension and disability allowance provided by the relevant state support programs, and the victim had to engage in begging and collect garbage in order to heat the residence in order to secure his livelihood. A public criminal prosecution was initiated against G.H. under Article 189, Part 1 of the Criminal Code (trafficking or exploitation of a child or a helpless person). The criminal proceedings were sent with the indictment to the supervising prosecutor, with a request to confirm it and send it to the court for examination on the merits.

02.12.2025

584 offenders were freed from criminal liability due to active repentance.

584 offenders were freed from criminal liability due to active repentance.

584 individuals who committed serious and particularly serious crimes have been released from criminal liability on the basis of active repentance.

It should be reminded that the institution of release from criminal liability on the basis of active repentance had for years applied only to minor and medium-gravity crimes. However, on July 12, 2023, amendments were made to Article 81 of the Criminal Code, after which individuals accused of committing serious and particularly serious crimes may also be released from criminal liability on the basis of active repentance, provided there are “exceptional factors.”

The law also introduced restrictions on the application of this institution to certain types of crimes, such as genocide, trafficking, espionage, etc. The problematic issue, however, is that the list does not include murder, crimes against sexual inviolability, high treason, as well as the article on child trafficking—which is even more serious than trafficking. From the outset, these legislative changes were not unequivocally accepted. Professionals argued that applying this mechanism to serious and particularly serious crimes is not justified as a means of reducing the workload of investigative bodies and courts. There were also concerns about potential contradictions with Armenia’s international obligations, dual approaches, high corruption risks, violations of victims’ rights, the possible rise of impunity, crime rates, and even incidents of vigilantism. It is worth recalling PACE Resolution 1675 (2009), “The Necessity to Eradicate Impunity,” which states that all individuals responsible for serious human rights violations must be held accountable. The Council of Europe notes that combating impunity for serious human rights violations is a priority both for the CoE and all national and international law-enforcement bodies. Impunity must be eliminated both as an issue of individual justice and as a mechanism for preventing future violations.

Nevertheless, statistical data show that the active repentance mechanism has been applied mostly to serious and particularly serious crimes. It remains unclear what “exceptional factors” applied in 584 cases over 2.5 years. According to information provided by the RA Prosecutor General’s Office in response to written questions from “Pastinfo,” in the second half of 2022, 30 people were released from criminal liability under Article 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code on the basis of active repentance—24 for minor crimes and 6 for medium-gravity crimes. In 2023, 236 people were released—63 for minor, 52 for medium-gravity, 119 for serious, and 2 for particularly serious crimes. In 2024, 779 people were released—120 for minor, 223 for medium-gravity, 431 for serious, and 5 for particularly serious crimes. In the first half of 2025, 106 people were released—26 for minor, 53 for medium-gravity, and 27 for serious crimes.

It remains unclear which sections of the Criminal Code most of the individuals released on the basis of active repentance for serious and particularly serious crimes had been charged under, as the Prosecutor’s Office did not provide these details.

According to publicly available data as of January 2024, the overwhelming majority of such cases concerned crimes against military service order: out of 184 individuals accused of serious and particularly serious crimes who were released on the basis of active repentance, 182 were charged with committing crimes against military service order.

01.12.2025

Let's not forget that everyone has rights

Let's not forget that everyone has rights

RA Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan wrote: "Violence is condemnable. Illegal use of personal data is unacceptable. Any publication, including comments, that violate human rights and contain calls for violence is not allowed. Dear citizens, each of these actions is punishable according to RA legislation. Unfortunately, our society is not free from crimes, and that is the reason why today about 2,845 people accused of crimes of the greatest public danger are in penitentiary institutions, and hundreds of people are being held in non-custodial measures. Let's not forget that everyone has rights, including those accused of crimes. Let's be moderate in our expressions and behavior. Violence in any form is condemnable, but I want to talk about the phenomenon we are dealing with today. This video continues to be actively shared on the Internet, targeting all the children who appear in it, both the perpetrator and the child being abused. Their parents are also targeted. Our state is a state of law, so the reaction to all criminal phenomena must be done in a legal way. And the legal way is to discover the case of the crime, identify the persons who committed the crime, punish them and resocialize them. I must mention that this case, which is about two months old, was in the center of attention of state authorities and that is also the reason that the most severe measure of restraint was applied to children, which is detention, the use of which according to our legislation and international standards, is only carried out in very exceptional cases. I should add that there are now other means of deterrence applied to all minors.

29.11.2025