Epress.am News from Armenia
Human rights activists from Armenia's Helsinki Association report that “provocations are being planned” against Hrachya Gevorgyan, an inmate of Yerevan's Nubarashen prison whose hunger strike to protest the lack of proper medical care by the prison staff has now entered its third week.
Helsinki Association representative Arman Veziryan told Epress.am that on Wednesday evening two other prisoners were transferred to Gevorgyan's cell, after which there was a fire in the cell, followed quickly by the disappearance of one of the newcomers. “He was an informant, and [the fire] was a failed attempt by [the prison authorities] at some trick. They are trying to somehow set Hrach up,” Veziryan alleged. Meanwhile, he added that the prisoner's health continues to deteriorate.
Hrachya Gevorgyan, who was sentenced in November, 2015, to 8 years in prison for hostage-taking, violence against a representative of authorities, and extortion, is suffering from chronic hepatitis C, chronic bronchitis, Parkinson's disease, and a pulmonary arterial hypertension; when eating or taking care of personal needs, the prisoner has to rely on the help of other inmates.