Epress.am News from Armenia
The opinion that Nairi and Karen Hunanyan — the leader of the infamous Oct. 27, 1999 Armenian parliament shooting incident and his brother — are living a life of luxury in the Yerevan-Kentron (“Center”) penitentiary seems not to be true, writes imprisoned Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”) chief editor Nikol Pashinyan in the paper as well as on his personal website.
Pashinyan notes that he has this impression from serving 7 months in the Yerevan-Kentron penitentiary himself.
“The Hunanyans are serving their life sentences in that very prison. I have already written that unlike other prisons, prisoners in the Yerevan-Kentron [jail] don’t meet other prisoners. One day, however, behind a partially open door, I saw someone who seemed to be Nairi Hunanyan. The first thought that entered my head was the following: he won’t last long. There were no teeth left in his mouth, his head was shaved… I was able to find out that Nairi Hunanyan is kept in a single cell, but in which cell, I was unable to find out, but I can almost definitely say that he has no TV or any [other] luxury [provided to prisoners]…” writes Pashinyan.
He notes that he has more definite news about Karen Hunanyan.
“One day in the prison, the electricity was cut, as a result of which no TV or any device other was turned on in our cell. The silence which ensued was more pronounced because it was a Sunday. There was no movement in the prison yard on which our cell window overlooked. And so began the violation of silence because of events taking place next to our cell. At first, there was the impression that two cellmates were fighting. Then, when the voices were raised, it became evident that the speaker was one person. Naturally, this conversation couldn’t not be interesting. What can I say, I sharpened my ears. The basic tenet of the discussion was the following:
“Representatives of Israel’s Special Services (Mossad) ‘had come and were speaking’ with the speaker, offering him cooperation under favorable conditions. The speaker resigned from cooperating, explaining that he sympathizes with the Palestinians’ liberation movement. It was clear to me that the speaker was one of the Hunanyans. It was also clear that either he is suffering from a mental illness or he is on the verge of one. The guards later in a confidential talk confirmed that it was Karen Hunanyan,” explained Pashinyan.
Continuing, Pashinyan notes that he was in the Nubarashen penitentiary when Hamlet Stepanyan, also one of the accused in the Oct. 27 parliamentary shooting, died.
“Out of the 7 identified and convicted members of the Hunanyan crime syndicate, alive at the moment are Derenik Bejanyan, Edik Grigoryan, [and] Nairi and Karen Hunanyan. Norayr Yeghiazaryan, Vram Galstyan and Hamlet Stepanyan died in prison. Events basically are developing in a scenario favorable to the authorities,” he concludes.