Nikol Pashinyan visits hunger-striking Volodya Avetisyan
Armenian lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan today visited the Vardashen penitentiary in Yerevan to see retired army colonel Volodya Avetisyan who is continuing his hunger strike there. “Two more inmates have joined the hunger strike. I have information that about ten inmates consider the possibility of joining the strikers. “The reason is that parole and early release mechanism does not work in our jurisdiction and the corresponding commissions do not account for their rejections of parole requests which cannot be appealed under the country’s legislation,” Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook account. Volodya Avetisyan started a hunger strike in the Vardashen penitentiary in Yerevan on October 30 as a sign of protest against the decision to an independent commission which rejected for the second time Avetisyan’s request for early release. Avetisyan, who was convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison in July 2014, now demands a meeting with Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan, Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan and journalists. He has been in custody for two years. The retired army colonel is a father of six children, three of whom are minors.
