Epress.am News from Armenia
The Human Rights Defender's Office of the Republic of Armenia (RA) is examining the facts noted in the statement of prisoner Hrachya Gevorgyan, who is currently in the Hospital for Prisoners. Gevorgyan claims that the preliminary investigation body perpetrated abuses against him and applied a certain amount of pressure. The accused, in particular, said he is being threatened by Former Chief of the Police Criminal Investigation Unit Artur Gevorgyan.
In conversation with Epress.am, head of the RA Ombudsman's Office violence prevention department Yeranuhi Tumanyants said she cannot provide any information about the results of their research at this time.
"The first of Gevorgyan's problems had to do with [his] health, as he swallowed two foreign bodies [a nail and a needle], for which the [Human Rights] Defender wrote to the Minister of Justice. As a result, he was taken to the surgical ward of the Hospital for Convicts. An examination was conducted, as a result of which two foreign bodies were discovered, and since the size and position of the foreign bodies does not exclude the option of their disposal through natural means, Gevorgyan is under doctors' supervision, and if the need arises, medical intervention will be implemented. This was the first issue, which it seem is resolved — the second remains; it is in force," she said.
For a long time, Gevorgyan asked the nail he had swallowed to protest the actions of the investigative team to be removed from his stomach surgically; however, the penitentiary management ignored his requests.
On April 14, the prisoner once again appealed to the penitentiary management, saying if he is refused once again, he will swallow a needle, which he did on April 16, eventually being taken to hospital.
Recall, according to the indictment, Hrachya Gevorgyan and Garik Harutyunyan held hostage Hrachya 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.
During the trial, one of the witnesses, Mery Israelyan, described how Naira's father asked her to testify against Hrachya Gevorgyan. Recall, Gevorgyan's mother, dissatisfied with the prolonged proceedings against her son, held a protest outside the president's residence and made an attempt to commit self-immolation.