No official information issued on suicide at Armavir penitentiary facilities
10:21, January 13, 2016 | News, Own news | Detention Facilities
On January 11, 2016, the family of 21-year-old Anzor Karapetyan, deceased at ‘Armavir’ penitentiary facilities on January 4, 2016, consulted Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor. The administration of the penitentiary facilities reported that A. Karapetyan had committed suicide. However, his family insist that they consider the information about the suicide to be incredible as Anzor Karapetyan was a strong-willed person and had no reason to take such a step. They also referred to the signs of violence on his body and injuries of the internal organs revealed during the autopsy, which came to refute the hypothesis of suicide.
On December 31, 2015, a fight broke out in Armavir town, and Anzor Karapetyan was also involved therein. After the fight, A. Karapetyan presented himself before the police and was arrested. Some days later, in the evening on January 3, 2016, he was detained by a court ruling and later at night transferred to ‘Armavir’ penitentiary facilities.
In fact, it follows from the above that Anzor Karapetyan spent only a few hours at the penitentiary facilities, and it remains unclear what circumstances might have forced him to commit suicide.
Nevertheless, when compared, the facts above, as well as the information provided by A. Karapetyan’s family and the fact that he presented himself before the police of his own free will, the time he spent at the penitentiary facilities and the physical injuries revealed by the autopsy make the hypothesis of a suicide extremely implausible.
The applicants also stated that they had no information on any actions taken to reveal the circumstances of Anzor Karapetyan’s death and therefore, turned for help to the Organization.
Note that according to media reports, another 2 suicides have occurred at ‘Armavir’ penitentiary facilities lately. Hence, on December 19, 2015, a convict was found hung there, and on January 6, 2016, Armen Parsadanyan was found dead in a cell of the penitentiary facilities. Unlike the 2 death cases above, the MoJ Penitentiary Department issued no official statement on the death of A. Karapetyan. This also reinforces the suspicion that the hypothesis of a suicide by A. Karapetyan is implausible.
Another essential fact is that upon being transferred to the penitentiary facilities, A. Karapetyan was placed in the same cell where one of the suicides above had occurred.