Epress.am News from Armenia
The next hearing in the Court of General Jurisdiction of Ajapnyak and Davtashen Administrative Districts in the case of Hrachya Gevorgyan was postponed.
Gevorgyan, who is accused of hostage-taking, was brought to the courtroom already having a serious health condition. An ambulance was summoned. As told to Epress.am by Helsinki Association for Human Rights observer Arman Veziryan, in the defendant had a fever in the last 10 days. He appealed to the Nubarashen penitentiary management to provide medical assistance but received no answer. Gevorgyan said he also has problems with his eyes, saying he is becoming blind and needs surgery. Furthermore, he asked that a nail he swallowed earlier in protest be surgically removed, but these pleas also went unanswered.
The court session was postponed indefinitely, but after the defendant received medical assistance, he was left in the courtroom, forced to wait till the cases of all the other Nubarashen prisoners were heard. All the prisoners were to be taken back to the penitentiary after 6 pm.
According to the indictment, Hrachya Gevorgyan and Garik Harutyunyan held hostage Gevorgyan's wife, Naira Harutyunyan, and her son, a minor, asking for ransom from Naira's father. After they received the money, they released Naira and her son.
The defense, however, insists that Naira is trying to frame her husband in order to avoid repayment of their debts.
Earlier, Gevorgyan's mother, dissatisfied with her son's case being delayed, staged a protest, attempting to self-immolate outside the Armenian president's residence.