Clarification on Reports of Vagharsak Avetisyan's Hunger Strike and Torture Allegations

Today, various media outlets, citing the website ‘forrights am’, published information about lifelong prisoner Vagharsak Avetisyan from the ‘Armavir’ penitentiary declaring an indefinite hunger strike, as well as allegations of him being tortured at the Goris Police Department. Given that the publication contains evident inaccuracies and manipulative claims unrelated to reality, it is necessary to clarify the following:

1. Lifelong prisoner Vagharsak Avetisyan in the ‘Armavir’ penitentiary declared a hunger strike on January 30, 2019. The next day, on January 31, the prosecutor overseeing the legality of penalties and other coercive measures applied at the penitentiary visited him. During the meeting, the inmate was subjected to an inquiry as per established procedures, and a report was drafted. According to this report, the main reason for his hunger strike was his demand for a review of his criminal case. The prosecutor provided him with appropriate advice and urged him to terminate the hunger strike, considering that a criminal case had been initiated based on his report.

Today, on February 4, a prosecutor is again visiting V. Avetisyan at the ‘Armavir’ penitentiary to monitor the protection of his rights during the hunger strike, assess his health condition, and, if necessary, inquire about the provision of medical assistance, while again urging him to cease the hunger strike.

The aforementioned circumstances confirm that the website has published information about an individual on hunger strike having received “no visits from the appropriate authorities,” which bears no relation to reality.

2. Regarding the alleged torture of V. Avetisyan, a criminal case was initiated on October 1, 2018, under part 2 of Article 309 of the RA Criminal Code (as the torturous conduct did not fall under Article 309.1 of the Criminal Code, which was not yet in effect at the time of the alleged incident in 2008). This case is currently under investigation by the RA Special Investigative Service. V. Avetisyan has been recognized as a victim and has undergone numerous investigative actions. This indicates that all necessary measures have been taken to clarify the circumstances presented by the convict and to provide essential legal assessments through the proper investigative process.

Moreover, it is worth emphasizing that the basis for initiating the criminal case was an article published on August 18, 2018, on ‘forrights am’, titled “They tied his feet and hands, threw him on the floor and threatened – if he does not take the blame for the taxi driver’s murder, they will rape him,” which was forwarded to the RA Special Investigative Service by the Office of the Prosecutor General for preparation of materials regarding the torture information mentioned therein. Therefore, there is no basis for the claims made in the publication that the declarations made by the convict have been neglected and that “the Prosecutor’s Office has turned a blind eye to these circumstances.”