Epress.am News from Armenia
Gevorg Safaryan has been diagnosed with bone spurs (osteophytes); laboratory testing and physical examination has revealed no significant abnormalities, Epress.am was informed by the Penitentiary Department of the Armenian Justice Ministry.
“Safaryan currently complains of knee joint pain; however, there are no visible changes in the knee and his general condition is satisfactory. Safaryan is regularly receiving non-steroidal anti-inflammatory treatment (pills and creams),” the officials’ statement reads.
April 27, 16:57 Opposition activist Gevorg Safaryan, a member of New Armenia and Founding Parliament anti-government movements who was sentenced to 2 years in prison early this year for assaulting a police officer, has serious health problems but is not receiving any medical care, his lawyer, Tigran Hayrapetyan, told Epress.am on Thursday.
According to Hayrapetyan, they have yet to receive the results of the x-ray examination that Safaryan underwent a month ago at the Convicts’ Hospital; the lack of an official diagnosis, the lawyer added, prevents Safaryan’s relatives from ensuring that the prisoner gets proper medical treatment.
“This could only mean that Gevorg might be suffering from health problems which are incompatible with detention, and the prison administration therefore does not want to disclose the results of his examination,” Hayrapetyan said.
“The x-ray results have been sent to the Justice Ministry’s Penitentiary Department, which, in turn, had an obligation to give us a reply within 3-4 days. The justice officials, however, are not carrying out their duties properly, which once again proves the Justice Ministry’s failure to function as a state institution,” the lawyer complained.