A leader of a small Armenian party prosecuted on corruption charges died in prison at the weekend following a 44-day hunger strike.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) arrested Vahe Yeghiazarian, the deputy chairman of the Armenian Eagles party, and charged with him fraud and bribery on December 3.
“He did not deny taking money,” Yeghiazarian’s lawyer, Vahe Armenakian, said on Monday. “He just thought that the matter should be investigated on the civil-administrative plane and that the criminal case should not have been opened because in Armenia tens of thousands of people borrow money from each other and return it later on.”
Yeghiazarian, who also ran a news website, began the hunger strike two days after his arrest, demanding his immediate release from custody. He ended it on January 17, nine days before he died at Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison. The 51-year-old died from a heart attack, according to the prison administration.
Armenakian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that his client may have stayed alive if he had been taken to a civilian hospital right after the hunger strike. Yeghiazarian did not receive adequate medical care at Nubarashen’s medical unit, said the lawyer.
Hasmik Harutiunian, who leads a team of civic activists monitoring conditions in Armenian prisons, likewise challenged the Justice Ministry to clarify whether Yeghiazarian underwent necessary medical treatment in the prison.
According to the office of Armenia’s state human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, the suspect suffered from a chronic heart disease. The office said it urged law-enforcement authorities to free him on bail because of that.
A Yerevan court refused to grant bail to Yeghiazarian on January 16.
Armenakian also condemned the NSS for banning his relatives from visiting him in the prison. In a Facebook post, Yeghiazarian’s son Vazgen said they would have urged him to the end the hunger strike much earlier.
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