Starting end of May the Probation Service will start working on pilot basis. Today, on 17 April, the first meeting of the interdepartmental working group, which was established with the aim to introduce the probation service, the Deputy Minister of Justice Suren Krmoyan informed this.
He added that by the end of the year the necessary legislative acts would be adopted and the service will act as a responsible state body.
According to the deputy minister, this service is aimed to reduce detention as a measure of restraint, as well as in case of existence of the corresponding justifications and guarantees, to reduce the use of imprisonment as a punishment.
Mr. Donche Boshkovski, Senior Project Officer of the Council of Europe held a welcoming speech. He noted that the composition of the commission is multidisciplinary and comprehensive. Mr. Boshkovski said that the Council hopes that the project will be successful.
Later, in an interview with journalists Suren Krmoyan referred to the draft concept of the probation service, which was taken off the agenda of the Government Session yesterday. “There is a small problem to be discussed in the government staff. However, I believe that this issue will be discussed at the next meeting and approved,” said the Deputy Minister.
In reply to Iravaban.net’s question about the disputable clauses that need discussions, and due to which the discussion was delayed, Mr. Krmoyan said, “A completely new system is introduced, which will replace a lot of existing mechanisms in the field of criminal justice. Many issues were discussed, starting from the conclusions on precautionary measures provided by the Probation Service in future, and why not in the connection with the necessity opf conclusions provided with respect of the punishment, as well as those related to the capacity of the service personnel.”
Speaking of budget allocations, the Deputy Minister of Justice said that the annual cost of the service will be around 600 million AMD. About 240 million AMD will be invested for the service during the first year. However, introduction of the Service will be a profitable for the state budget,” Mr. Krmoyan concluded.
Also read: “Punishment is not Equal to Imprisonment”. Probation Service Breaks the Stereotypes.
Gevorg Tosunyan
