As previously stated, in 2021 the RA Prosecutor's Office conducted inspections and studies in the field of supervision over the legality of the application of punishments and other measures of compulsion. They concerned the protection of the conditions of detention of persons in the penitentiary institution of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, ensuring health, and the right to external communication.
Department of Supervision over Legality of Penalties and Other Means of Compulsion of the RA Prosecutor General's Office studied in 2021 the general state of the provision of products. As a result, violations were identified.
In particular, according to the public procurement agreement for the provision of food preparation services for the needs of the penitentiary institution, signed between the LLC and the penitentiary service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, in 2021 the company was obliged to provide prisoners in 12 penitentiary institutions of the Ministry of Justice with fresh high-quality products RA. According to a pre-approved menu food must be varied, the average daily energy value of quality food must provide at least 2800 kcal.
A violation of the right to food of prisoners was stated, since food was provided for state needs that differed significantly from the established norms. At the same time, there was no decrease in the price component of food products in these conditions. Since the latter may be due to possible abuse. By the instruction of the RA Prosecutor General, the materials on the revealed violations were sent to the RA Police to resolve the process in the manner prescribed by the RA Code of Criminal Procedure. According to the factual data obtained from the materials prepared regarding the violations found, a criminal case was initiated under Point 1 of Part 3 of Art. 178, Part 2 of Art. 308, Part 1 of Art. 314, Point 1 of Part 2 of Art. 179 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, which was sent to the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Armenia for the implementation of a preliminary investigation. A message regarding the establishment of the causes of violations, the exclusion of further assumptions, and the prosecution of officials was sent to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia.
In 2021 the effectiveness of the measures taken to eliminate the violations found out in the penitentiary institutions of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia in previous years was also verified.
In order to eliminate such violations and exclude them in the future, the RA Prosecutor General's Office sent a message to the head of the penitentiary service of the RA Ministry of Justice. By the letter was informed that the registered violations and problems were considered, and the administration of the penitentiary institution was given specific instructions for their elimination and exclusion in the future.
