Imprisoned Armenian oppositionist diagnosed a serious eye trauma

Vardui Elbakyan, advocate of oppositional activist Tigran Arakelyan, 18, who is in custody, told journalists about extremely grave health condition of her client. According to her story, after examination by ophthalmologist a serious injury of his eye was revealed. The defender is sure that it was a result of the blow inflicted by a policeman on the young man with the pistol handle.

Ms Elbakyan said that a number of examinations of Tigran Arakelyan were made at the prison hospital, where he was placed after his complaints on poor vision and dizziness.

"Now we possess the final conclusion issued by the chief ophthalmologist of the Ministry of Public Health Professor Alexander Malyan running that T. Arakelyan suffers from subatrophy of the optic nerve of his left eye; the field of vision of this eye got narrowed by 50 degrees. The custody conditions in the isolation facility can bring Tigran Arakelyan to blindness, and he should be immediately taken to a civil hospital," the advocate has noted.

She told about her plans to appeal against Arakelyan's arrest, decided by the general court of communities Centre and Nork-Marash, at the Appeal Court, trying to bail Tigran out.

Armen Khachatryan from the legal support service of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) has added that in the next few days the ANC will send a preliminary letter from Tigran Arakelyan to the European Court.