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Appeals Court Upholds 8-Year Sentence for Seriously Ill Convict

Armenia's criminal appeals court upheld on Thursday a lower court ruling of 8 years’ imprisonment for Hrachya Gevorgyan, a seriously ill Nubarashen convict who was found guilty last year of hostage-taking, violence against a representative of authorities, and extortion.

The convict was brought to today's hearing in a wheelchair and when answering a reporter's question as to how he was feeling, he managed with great difficulty to convey that his condition was deteriorating sharply. “They've injected something into me so that I am unable to prove that I'm innocent,” Gevorgyan claimed.

The prisoner had no serious health issues prior to being tried; today, however, he 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. He has gone on a number of hunger strikes to demand that authorities provide him with proper medical care, but to no avail since prison officials have yet to ensure that the prisoner undergoes any sort of treatment which, according to a statement issued by the group of public observers conducting monitoring of Armenia’s correctional institutions, can be classified as a method of torture.

According to the indictment, Hrachya Gevorgyan held hostage his wife, Naira Harutyunyan, and her son, a minor, asking for ransom from Naira's father. After he received the money, prosecutors insist, he released the hostages.

Gevorgyan, however, has denied the accusations during the entirety of the 4-year trial process; the defendant claims that Harutyunyan “organized a conspiracy” against him. He has also repeatedly stated that the former Chief of the Police Criminal Investigation Unit Artur Gevorgyan for three months attempted to convince him not to protest against the charges. Then, as stated by Gevorgyan, the former police chief decided to make threats to ensure the accused ceases his fight against the “illegality of the criminal case” against him. However, the RA Special Investigation Service did not find the convict's claims sufficient to open a criminal case against the police official.