Participants in the guest lecture in cooperation with the Academy of Justice of the Republic of Armenia on the topic “Fundamentals of Criminal Law - Judgement and Penalties (Sanctions, Security Measures and Alternative Measures)” on 16 May 2023. At the speaker's table (centre): Rector of the Academy of Justice, Sergey Arakelyan. Armenia
The Academy of Justice and the Faculty of Law of the State University of Yerevan are long-standing partner organisations of the IRZ in Armenia. As part of this cooperation, the IRZ held two guest lectures in hybrid and online format on 16 May 2023 on the “Fundamentals of criminal law - judgement and penalties (sanctions, security measures and alternative measures)”.
The events were primarily aimed at future judges, Public Prosecutors and the student body from all over Yerevan.
The two guest lectures are part of a series of events to support Armenian legal education and training.
The Rector of the Academy of Justice, Sergey Arakelyan, and the IRZ Project Manager, Amalia Wuckert, opened the guest lectures. In her lecture on this topic, Professor Anna R. Anna Margaryan, lecturer at the Academy of Justice and Deputy Dean of the Law Faculty of Yerevan State University, explained the situation in Armenia.
In addition to Amalia Wuckert, the second guest lecture was presented by the Dean of the Law Faculty of the State University of Yerevan, Professor Gagik Ghazinyan. The lecturer at the law faculty, Jenya Stepanyan, then reported on the situation in Armenia. The German expert at both lectures was the judge at the Local Court, Siegen Uwe Stark.
The most important topics and main topics of discussion of both guest lectures:
(Final) decisions in criminal procedure against adults and (preliminary) protective measures
Handing down sentences and relevant criteria
Features of criminal procedure against young people and adolescents
The participants of the two events took an active part in the lively discussions.
Workshop on practical issues in the penitentiary system for employees at the Vanadzor Correctional Facility (left to right): Artzrun Petrosyan, Deputy Director of the Vanadzor Correctional Facility, Senior Government Director, Thomas Müller, Director of the Karlsruhe Correctional Facility, Senior Official Heiko Oberle, Administrative Director at the Mannheim Correctional Facility, Manuk Poghosyan, Director of the Vanadzor Correctional Facility, and Amalia Wuckert, Project Manager, IRZ. Armenia
IRZ has been carrying out various measures in Armenia over the past few years as part of the conversion of the existing penal system into a rehabilitation plan system. The focus is on advising the Armenian government, and providing training to the staff at several correctional facilities.
In this context, IRZ held a second workshop on 2-3 May 2023, which was aimed at the team at the Vanadzor Correctional Facility. This measure is a continuation of the workshop that the IRZ held on 24-26 November 2022 and is the third event to train the staff at the Vanadzor Correctional Facility.
Approx. 20 participants attended the latest training session, including the psychologist, the social worker and the employees of the Operational Security Department and the new Director of the Vanadzor Correctional Facility, Manuk Poghosyan and his Deputy, Artzrun Petrosyan.
The most important topics and focal points of the discussion were:
Determination of measures for resocialisation
Work of the Commission to evaluate the resocialisation work to be implemented
Potential treatment measures
Work of the inmates as a resocialisation measure
Recreational activities for inmates
Prognostic criteria of the Commission for the Evaluation of Resocialisation Work to be submitted to the court with recommendations for the conditional release of prisoners and the Admission Committee.
The project was led by IRZ experts Thomas Müller, Senior Government Director and Director of the Karlsruhe Correctional Facility who, along with other colleagues, has acted as an advisor to the penitentiary system for many years. The second expert at this event was Senior Official Heiko Oberle, Administrative Director at the Mannheim Correctional Facility.
The participants took an active part in the lively talks, and criticism and problems relating to the implementation of the reforms were also discussed. Positive changes have already been observed since the beginning of the measure in April 2022, due to the willingness to reform and the commitment of the staff at the Vanadzor Correctional Facility.
Training of the specialist services in the Correctional Facility (psychologists and social workers) in Karbi; left to right Amalia Wuckert, Project Manager IRZ Bonn, Zonik Margaryan, Director of the Training Centre in Karbi; Senior Psychology Counsellor Betina Schilling, Deputy Head of Education Centre for the Penitentiary System in Baden-Württemberg; Senior Government Director Thomas Müller; District Councillor Heiko Oberle; Deputy Head of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice of Armenia Tadevos Nalbandyan. Armenia
IRZ is supporting Armenia in converting the penitentiary system into a rehabilitation plan system, and has been providing consultations and staff training at various prisons for several years as part of the reforms.
In accordance with the Armenian Penitentiary Code dated 1 September, 2022 a commission must be formed to evaluate the rehabilitation measures that should be carried out. The results of work with a prisoner are evaluated individually and, in the case of early or conditional release, the commission makes a recommendation to the court. The members of the commission include psychologists and social workers. There is therefore an urgent need to provide further training to specialist staff, particularly in these two professions, to draw up an individual implementation plan and to conduct an expert assessment to then make the relevant recommendation. Thus the concept of providing such training arose.
IRZ is using the current series of measures to focus on social workers and psychologists who took part in the first pilot project on the penitentiary system (2017-2020).
In this context, from 4-7 May, 2023, IRZ held the first training session for the specialist services in the Correctional Facility arising from the series of measures “Measures for diagnostics and prognosis and the implementation of treatment programmes in the training centre in Karbi”.
The training was opened by Tadevos Nalbandyan, Deputy Head of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice of Armenia, the Head of the Training Centre, Zonik Margaryan, and Amalia Wuckert, IRZ Project Manager responsible for Armenia. The training was predominantly conducted by Betina Schilling, Senior Psychology Counsellor and Deputy Head of the Training Centre at the Centre for the Penitentiary System in Baden-Württemberg as an expert from the IRZ. Thomas Müller, Senior Government Director and Head of the Karlsruhe Correctional Facility and Senior Official Heiko Oberle, Head of Administration at the Mannheim Correctional Facility, took part in the first day of training as the German experts.
The event focused on the following topics:
Measures for diagnosis and prognosis
Implementation of treatment programmes for sex offenders and violent offenders; the role of specialist services
Criteria for measures to open the prison and for preparation for release
Criteria for a conditional release
In addition to exploring these topics and the discussions, the aim of the training was to create a template for writing statements. All these objectives were achieved. The interest in the topics of the event and in the discussion was consistently very high. The content that was communicated on the subject of implementation, prognosis and recidivism was successfully implemented in group work.
There is a clear willingness to implement reforms. The participants were extremely enthusiastic and proactive, and engaged in some lively discussions.
