The prisoner who has had heart surgery twice on hunger strike

A short while ago the Helsinki Association was informed that a prisoner Arayik Hakobyan had initiated a hunger strike in the “Hrazdan” criminal-executive institution. Note that Arayik Hakobyan has had heart surgery twice and he should be under dynamic control of the cardiologist, as prescribed by the physician.

We would like to mention that according to official information, there are cardiologists only in the criminal-executive institutions of “Prisoners’ Hospital” and “Armavir” (both on a contractual basis).We would like also to inform that Ara Hakobyan has been moved to the “Prisoners Hospital” for a short period of time, and soon after, on June 7, by the Commission’s decision, he was moved from the “Prisoners’ Hospital” to the “Hrazdan” CEI.

There is no cardiologist in the “Hrazdan” CEI, therefore not only the prisoner’s health state is being endangered but, in this case, also his life. We strongly demand to take urgent and imperative measures to prevent unacceptable outcomes.