Political Prisoners Gevorg Safaryan and Hayk Kyureghyan Face Continued Oppressions
11:47, January 20, 2016 | News, Other news | Hayk Kyureghyan
In RA, political prisoners continue to face persecution even in prison; the regime often goes as far as to use criminal elements to exert pressure on such prisoners for their political views.
Political activist Gevorg Safaryan, member of Nor Hayastan movement, who was apprehended on January 1, 2015 from Liberty Square, went on a hunger strike demanding to be transferred to a separate cell for safety reasons. He was transferred to the cell where political prisoner Hayk Kyureghyan was kept, who had been transferred to a separate cell back on December 14, 2015 after his hunger strike of 27 days. It is noteworthy that Hayk Kyureghyan had also gone on a hunger strike in protest of the poor cell conditions and problems with other inmates.
On January 14, 2016, Gevorg Safaryan, representative of Nor Hayastan movement, went on another hunger strike after learning that he would be transferred to a general cell. G. Safaryan put forward only one demand: to be placed in a cell where he would be free from criminal elements and any possible violence on their part.
Despite his demand, he was placed in a general cell. In support of Gevorg Safaryan, Hayk Kyureghyan also went on a hunger strike. On January 15, 2016, Gevorg Safaryan was again transferred to the cell where Hayk Kyureghyan was kept. Also, another 4 or 5 hunger-strikers were transferred to the same cell and tried to provoke a conflict with Gevorg Safaryan there. The administration of the penitentiary facilities stepped in. G. Safaryan was transferred to isolation cell, while Hayk Kyureghyan stayed in the same cell with the other hunger-strikers.
Tigran Hayrapetyan, attorney of G. Safaryan, told the media that at the penitentiary facilities, G. Safaryan’s life and health were in danger. He said, “The underworld figures threatened Gevorg that if he stayed with them in the same cell, he would get into trouble.”
According to RA NA deputy Zaruhi Postanjyan who visited Gevorg Safaryan and Hayk Kyureghyan on January 15, 2016, at penitentiary facilities, intolerable conditions are created artificially, with 7 people sharing a small cell.
The Statement of the Joint Opposition Headquarters of Nor Hayastan Public Salvation Front dated January 16, 2016 reads as follows, “… The events above come to prove that the criminal regime applies its entire armory of Jesuit ingenuity to make Gevorg Safaryan’s and Hayk Kyureghyan’s life in prison hell by using their detention as a means of torture, humiliation and inhuman treatment.”
On January 17, 2016, Gevorg Safaryan ended the hunger strike and was transferred to another cell, and as for Hayk Kyureghyan, he has not ended his hunger strike yet.