Armenia’s Minister of Justice Artak Zeynalyan has commented on the National Security Service’s exposition of the dozens of criminal machinations performed by prisoners at Armavir Penitentiary Institution.

The justice minister commented on the violations revealed by the National Security Service. “If there is no air conditioning system in a cell and it is hot inside, the windows of the cell can be opened without committing corruption crimes. There’s nothing illegal,” Artak Zeynalyan said.

When told that the cells are overcrowded, the minister reminded that the situation has changed over the past year. “We’ve been saying that the cells are not overcrowded for a year now,” Zeynalyan said and confirmed the news that the head of the Penitentiary Institution had filed his resignation.

As far as the detection of prohibited items in cells is concerned, the minister stated that the law doesn’t prohibit prisoners from transferring items to each other and that the ban only extends to the transfer through employees of a penitentiary institution.

Talking about the scenes of the search at the particular penitentiary institution, the minister said the results of an official investigation will show whether an operative video recording was allowed or not and what actions were lawful or unlawful. When asked about the detection of hiding places for Wi-Fi devices, Zeynalyan said such devices are detected in the prisons of all countries.