The Investigative Committee moved to charge the resident of the town of Artashat, identified as Armen Hovannisian, with obstruction of the ruling Civil Contract party’s election campaign following his arrest on Friday. He was transferred from a local police station to the Nubarashen clinic in Yerevan after engaging what the Armenia Interior Ministry described as “mentally unbalanced behavior” the next morning. According to the ministry, Hovannisian hanged himself there several hours later.
The Health Ministry insisted that hospital staff did their best to save the man’s life. But it did not clarify why they failed to prevent the suicide.
The country’s human rights ombudswoman, Anahit Manasian, expressed concern over Hovannisian’s death, saying that it raised “very serious questions” about the safety of patients at Armenian mental institutions. But unlike opposition politicians and other critics of the government, Manasian stopped short of criticizing his arrest.
In a joint statement, five pro-opposition lawyers insisted that Hovannisian should not have been arrested because under Armenian law campaign vandalism is an administrative, rather than criminal, offense.
“This serious crime that cost a citizen's life cannot be presented as an ‘accident’ or a ‘personal tragedy,’” said the statement. “This is the result of legal impunity and blatant distortion of the law by law enforcement agencies.”
Since the official start of campaigning for the June 7 parliamentary elections, nobody is known to have been arrested or fined for vandalizing campaign posters of opposition contenders. The opposition Hayastan alliance reported on Saturday the destruction of several of its posters displayed behind protective glass in a public area in Yerevan. Unknown assailants also smashed the glass.
“Let's bet that our glorious law-enforcement officers will not find the culprits,” said Artur Khachatrian, a senior member of the bloc.
The election campaign has also been marked by regular arrests of individuals insulting Pashinian or his allies on social media. No Pashinian supporters have been prosecuted on such charges.