Vahagn Chakhalyan ends hunger strike
Georgian-based Armenian political figure Vahagn Chakhalyan, ended his week-long hunger strike that he started on October 5 to protest against inhumane treatment in a Georgian prison.
Chakhalyan resorted to hunger strike to protest against degrading conditions in the Georgian prison. He demanded to put an end to his ‘unlawful suppression' and improve prison conditions.
The Javakheti-Armenian political activist decided to halt the hunger strike after the prison administration agreed to meet most of his demands. In particular, Chakhalyan was allowed to meet with Primate Vazgen Mirzakhanyan of the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The prison authorities also returned the confiscated books and agreed to restore buying privileges at the jail's commissary and settled the issue of water supply.
Robert Tatoyan, Program Coordinator for the Yerkir Union and Chakhalyan's Lawyer Stepan Voskanyan today met journalists to inform the news.
Voskanyan, who met Chakhalyan two days ago, says his client is still prohibited from seeing his family members. He is also banned from using a telephone. During the past three years, the prisoner was allowed to see his minor child once for 15 minutes.
Vahagn Chakhalyan, Leader of the "United Javakhk" Democratic Alliance was arrested in 2009 and charged with deforcement, storage of weapons and organization of riots. He was sentenced to 10 years in confinement and is serving his sentence at a top-security prison in Georgia.
Chakhalyan's lawyers have appealed to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This is the first time a Javakheti-Armenian activist applies to the ECtHR.
