Lifer: You cannot deprive people of the opportunity to improve themselves (video)
Inmates serving life sentences in Nubarashen penitentiary in Yerevan demand that their cases be reviewed. “There is a law but t does not work. When we began an open-ended hunger strike, many thought lifers wanted to be released. But it is not so. We want them to divide us into groups and distinguish between those innocent and guilty because there are innocent people here,” says life-termer Arman Hayrapetyan. In the visiting room of the prison, Arman presented the concerns of lifers. The vast majority of them were sentenced to life imprisonment before 2011, when the maximum period of prison sentence was 15 years. After the law was changed, the maximum prison term became 20 years, and only one person was sentenced to life imprisonment. Arman says, “A man is serving a sentence with me who was given 17 years in prison but has to stay here all his life. Is it right to destroy a person’s life for 2 years?” “The judge could not give me 16 or 17 years in prison so he gave me a life sentence,” said another lifer called Vagharshak. Among the lifers in Nubarashen prison there are many people who committed crimes under the age of 21. Arman says people do not fully realize their actions at that age; one cannot deprive people of the opportunity to improve themselves. “People under 21 are not fully matured but courts give them life sentences. No one can feel secured against it. Now everyone has answered for their actions,” Arman said. Lifers have addressed a letter with their concerns and demands to Serzh Sargsyan but they have not received any response from him. From time to time they stage hunger strikes to remind about their existence and wait for concrete steps. “This is not an easy question. It is a difficult matter that requires attention. They only need to demonstrate political will. We pin hopes on the president and the government who are dealing with the problem,” said Vagharshak. Various officials visit lifers during hunger strikes but they do not give answers to their concerns. “They say the issue is beyond their powers. Let them send people who can tackle the problem. People already understand that they cannot fool us. They come and say, “We do not want to give you hope, but we will try to do something." “Everyone can make mistakes, they need to be given an opportunity to improve themselves, to return to life,” say lifers. “Every person should have the hope for the better and live with that hope. When a person loses hope, it is awful. Better tell him that he will die here than give him empty promises,” says Vagharshak. “There are also people here who have committed one murder and are convicted for the first time. Why should you destroy his life? A person must be given a chance to live, to show what he can do,” said Arman. Vagharshak has been imprisoned since he was 20. Though he has spent the best years of his youth in prison he is full of optimism. Now he wants to return home more than ever. "I got married here, I have a family, I'll go and take care of my family, I will try to return what I have lost… My peers have done all this,” he said. Lifers say they feel the support of their relatives through the thick walls of the priosn. “We do not enjoy staging hunger strikes here. We are not delighted to leave our homes [cells] in this cold… We also feel bad,” says Vagharshak. Persons sentenced to life imprisonment have the right to walk an hour a day; they spend the rest of the day in their cells. Arman does not complain of the staff or conditions. “If you can live a normal life, you can create your own conditions, you are given that opportunity," he says. Lifers say time is their biggest problem; people live in uncertainty, with the hope of being at large one day. “Everyone wants to be free. Once you are set free you should think about your future life. Like all ordinary people, you should first of all think of building your own family,” says Vagharshak. “You need not look at everyone in the same light. You need not think that there are only killers here. Ninety-nine percent of lifers can communicate normally,” Arman said. “Everyone here knows what he has lost and what he is fighting for. "Freedom means life for everyone. If we appeared here for correction, it means we have reached the point where we are already corrected,” Vagharshak says. "We hope that our government will hear our voice, accept our offer and will not ignore the problems accumulated over these years," Arman added. At present, there are 99 lifers in Armenia.
