Armenia: participant of "Million Mask March" goes on hunger strike

Lieutenant Colonel Vardan Vardanyan, sentenced to five years in prison in the case of "Million Mask March", has declared a hunger strike.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 20, Khachik Avetisyan, a veteran of the Karabakh War, went on hunger strike demanding to release arrested Armenian activists. According to Avetisyan, he is seeking the release of the arrested activists of the "Founding Parliament", those convicted in the case of "Million Mask March", and Colonel Volodya Avetisyan.

On April 27, Vardan Vardanyan informed the bosses of the penitentiary institution "Vardashen" about his decision to begin a hunger strike, his advocate Inessa Petrosyan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her story, on the same day Vardan Vardanyan was transferred to a separate cell, intended for prisoners on hunger strike. Vardan Vardanyan "has gone on hunger strike in solidarity with Khachik Avetisyan," the advocate has added.

"My client said that he went to extreme measures to demand the release of political prisoners," said Petrosyan.

On April 7, members of the "Founding Parliament" (formerly "Pre-Parliament"), including Zhirair Sefilyan, the leader of the movement "100 Years without Regime", activist Gevorg Safaryan, Varuzhan Avetisyan, the Deputy Chairman of the movement, activist Pavel Manukyan, and Garegin Chukaszyan, the Chairman of the movement, were arrested on suspicion of plotting riots in Armenia.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.