The office of the RA Human Rights Defender expressed its position regarding the proposal of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia to the Constitutional Reform Commission to create constitutional grounds for the death penalty for high treason.

“Responding to various requests, we inform you that the Human Rights Defender also considers the presence of crimes against the security of the state recorded during the 44-day war and after it, their number and, of course, the ways in which the alleged criminal acts were manifested. At the same time, the Human Rights Defender believes that in order to exclude such cases, it is necessary to carry out more effective preventive works, including appropriate measures for the prevention and prevention of alleged criminal acts. In other words, the solutions to further increase the efficiency of the work of law enforcement bodies, including the bodies carrying out operational intelligence and counter-intelligence activities, should not be sought in the reduction of human rights and freedoms and constitutional values ​​fixed by the Constitution.

In addition, it is also an undeniable truth that the effectiveness of the general preventive function of the criminal policy is determined not only and not so much by the severity of the punishment for the criminal act, but by ensuring the inevitability of the punishment for the criminal act. Therefore, according to the Defender’s assessment, the criminal policy of the state, especially in the case of crimes against the security of the state, including state treason, should go in the way of increasing the effectiveness of actions aimed at preventing or disrupting possible criminal acts and ensuring the inevitability of punishment in case of committed crimes.

As a member of the Constitutional Reforms Council, the Human Rights Defender, does not even consider the discussion of such a proposal appropriate, because it greatly overshadows the constitutional and democratic values ​​of the right to life and the protection of human rights in general,” the statement reads.