Volodya Avetisyan stops hunger strike at request of his supporters

Retired Colonel Volodya Avetisyan, a member of the Karabakh war, has stopped his hunger strike, started in connection with the dismissal of his appeal for conditional early relief (CER). Meanwhile, another inmate of the prison "Vardashen" has stopped the hunger strike simultaneously with Volodya Avetisyan.

At present, according to Gor Glechyan, Chief of the press service of the penitentiary institution "Vardashen", who has reported on the termination of the hunger strike by Volodya Avetisyan, three prisoners still continue the hunger strike.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 20, 2013, Volodya Avetisyan, an active participant in the protests of Karabakh war veterans, was detained. Investigators accused him of fraud. On July 17, 2014, the court sentenced him to six years of imprisonment and a fine. On October 30 Volodya Avetisyan was denied his CER; and he went on hunger strike.

Today, Gagik Sarukhanyan, Chairman of the military and patriotic organization "Khachakir", Director of the "Law and Assistance" Foundation, has visited the imprisoned activist. Gagik Sarukhanyan has noted that Volodya Avetisyan has stopped the hunger strike after receiving letters from his supporters.

According to Gagik Sarukhanyan, during eleven days of the hunger strike, Volodya Avetisyan lost more than five kilos of body weight and got very weak. Gagik Sarukhanyan has also noted that about 160 people joined the campaign for collecting signatures started on November 6 and calling Volodya Avetisyan to stop the hunger strike.

"Those 160 signatures were collected under the common text, and still a lot of people called from different regions of Armenia and asked to pass on their calls to Volodya Avetisyan," Gagik Sarukhanyan has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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