Death of media representative in penitentiary because of hunger strike shocking: Ruben Melikyan

Former Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, attorney Ruben Melikyan said he is shocked with the death of Haynews.am news website responsible Mher Yeghiazaryan in jail, after 44 days of hunger strike, he said about it speaking to Aysor.am.

“The status of a person is very important. In essence, we are dealing with media representative. Next, let us not forget that we are dealing with the person who was in detention not by the court’s verdict but by a criminal charge,” he said, adding that he does not remember such a case relating to the person’s right to live in Armenia during the past years.

“I am speaking about the most significant right. A person who was completely under the responsibility of the state dies of hunger strike. I could not imagine such a thing to happen in Armenia. It is speaking about serious crisis first in human rights protection sphere and in media sphere. It is a serious impulse that many important things do not work right in our country,” Melikyan said.

He stressed that at least two circumstances must be clarified: the first is whether the penitentiary has carried out everything in accordance to international criteria to ensure person’s right of living and the second one, whether the accusation against the person who declared hunger strike corresponded to the criteria set by the law.

Melikyan stressed that the public must get urgent clarifications on what basis the person was criminally persecuted, on what basis the court applied arrest as his preventive measure which as a result had such a tragic consequence.

Mher Yeghiazaryan died today after 44 day of hunger strike.