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“Every bit of experience of those advanced countries, where through the introduction of probation service the crime rate has been possible to reduce, are very useful for Armenia”, Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia Suren Krmoyan said in his remarks at a three-day seminar series for judges and prosecutors on June 17, held in Aghveran in the frameworks of the establishment of probation service in Armenia. The event was supported by the Yerevan office of the Council of Europe.

According to the Information and Public Relations Department of Ministry of Justice, Deputy Minister Krmoyan spoke about the goals and importance of the event in his opening remarks, inviting everyone’s attention to the prime factor in the successful introduction of probation service – the existence of appropriate commitment. He noted that after the introduction of the service the cooperation of all the relevant agencies and everybody’s commitment are required for its success. Krmoyan brough several examples to testify the necessity of probation service and once more to support the issue whether depriving the person of freedom indeed serves the main goal of the measure – the correction of the offender.

In his words, the correction and reduction of recidivism is a challenge for all countries. Krmoyan presented a statistics to everyone’s attention, where it was argued that in Armenia there are prisoners in penitentiary facilities, detained for the same offence for more than 10 times:

“We may perhaps restore justice through punishment, but the threat for the society persists”, - Deputy Minister argued.

Another keynote speaker at the event, the First Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia, Artur Hovhannisyan presented the Concept Paper on the introduction of probation service in Armenia, and said that the person under the probation service will undergo the sentence not in prison, but in community. Hovhannisyan noted that there’s necessity of switching from retributive justice to restorative justice.

The project manager of “Assistance in creation of probation service in Armenia” program Hayk Khemchyan paid huge importance to the opinions and suggestions for the further inclusion in the Draft Laws on Probation and On Probation Service.

In this respect, the keynote by a Council of Europe expert Martin Seddon was another important speech during the event, where the speaker touched upon different methods in probation service applied in some European countries.

Various opinions and assessments were made during the Q&A session that followed the keynotes. Welcoming the introduction of probation service in general terms, the judges were particularly interested about the establishment of a database for the new service and its operations, raising the issue of guarantees for the security of personal data. The judges also drew parallels between the alternative modes of punishment, envisaged in the Criminal Code currently in force, which is employed not quite often, and the probation service that is planned to establish. The prosecutors, in their turn, were interested in issues regarding the oversight and supervision over the servicemen in probation services and the modes on how the new service will operate its duties.

An active Q&A followed in the audience.

The participants prioritised the inclusion and consideration of the concerns and suggestions raised during the seminar in the forthcoming legislative work for the introduction of new probation service.

The keynote speakers presented the details of two upcoming pilot projects with the introduction of probation service, highlighting that the trial period will make it possible to detect possible challenges and correct them at a later stage, when the service will be introduce in full.

In conclusion, Deputy Minister Krmoyan said that the probation service is a new institution for Armenia, and the Ministry will need to handle all possible outstanding issues rising from this experience, urging everyone not to follow their foregone opinions. He said that the introduction of this service at the final stage will allow to reduce the costs of hosting prisoners ten times, and those funds will be redirected towards rebuilding better penitentiary facilities in the future.