Armenian law-enforcement authorities have a launched a criminal investigation into the death of a man in a Yerevan prison which followed his 44-day hunger strike.
Mher Yeghiazarian, the deputy chairman of a small political party, died of a heart attack in the Nubarashen prison on January 26.
Yeghiazarian began the hunger strike on December 5 two days after being arrested on charges of fraud and bribery. The 51-year-old, who also ran an Armenian news website, stopped refusing food on January 17.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee opened on Tuesday a criminal case in connection with Yeghiazarian’s death. It said the investigation is conducted under an article of the Criminal Code dealing with negligence of medical personnel.
“Necessary investigative and judicial actions are being taken to ascertain circumstances of the detainee’s death,” the committee added in a statement.
Yeghiazarian’s lawyer, Vahe Armenakian, said on Monday that his client may have stayed alive if he had been taken to a civilian hospital right after the hunger strike. Armenakian claimed that he did not receive adequate medical care at Nubarashen’s medical unit.
Human rights activists have likewise blamed the prison administration as well as the Justice Ministry, which oversees Armenia’s penitentiary institutions, for Yeghiazarian’s death.
Deputy Justice Minister Suren Krmoyan denied the ministry’s responsibility for it when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Thursday. He insisted that it was not up to the ministry to decide whether Yeghiazarian should stay in prison or be hospitalized.
“I don’t want to draw definitive conclusions because I suppose that all facts will be examined as part of the criminal case,” said Krmoyan. “But I want to emphasize that that person died some time after ending the hunger strike.”