Activist Yke Kyuregyan stops his hunger strike

In the evening of January 22, Armenian activist Yke Kyuregyan, sentenced to nine years of imprisonment for the shooting in front of the court building, has stopped his hunger strike after he was placed to a separate cell.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 14 Gevorg Safaryan declared a hunger strike demanding to place him into a solitary cell. His protest was supported by his cellmate Yke Kyuregyan. On January 16, after being transferred to a solitary cell, Safaryan stopped his hunger strike, but on January 20 he resumed it, this time in protest against the decision of prison bosses to transfer him to a general cell. January 18, Kyuregyan announced his refusal to drink water (a "dry" hunger strike).

In the evening of January 22, the Observation Group on monitoring in penitentiary institutions successively met Yke Kyuregyan and the top-ranking officials of the penitentiary institution "Nubarashen". This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Arthur Sakunts, a member of the Observation Group and the Chairman of the Vanadzor Office of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly.

Arthur Sakunts has noted that the top-ranking officials of the "Nubarashen" were presented all the demands and problems of Yke Kyuregyan.

"They have promised to grant the Yke Kyuregyan's request concerning his placement to a separate cell and to ensure his safety," Arthur Sakunts has emphasized.

According to him, after that, Yke Kyuregyan announced the termination of his hunger strike.

Yke Kyuregyan was transferred into a separate cell. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Varuzhan Avetisyan, Deputy Chairman "of the "Constituent Parliament".

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