In Armenia, a defendant on "Case of Seven" has poor health condition

Ombudsman Armen Arutyunyan told journalists about his intention to address the Ministry of Justice because health condition of Shant Arutyunyan, one of the defendants in the "Case of Seven", is very grave.

The Ombudsman told journalists that Shant's wife asked him to help her husband, who is kept at the "Vardashen" criminal corrective establishment. She asserts that Shant should be taken to some stationary medical establishment, since his health became sharply worse in recent days. According to Armen Arutyunyan, the defendant's relatives are sure that he needs the round-the-clock medical care.

Earlier, the Armenian National Congress (ANC) promulgated a statement running that Mr Arutyunyan should be taken to hospital: "Shant Arutyunyan's condition is causing concern. For several days already he can neither sleep nor eat."

Meanwhile, according to the statement of the Department of Penitentiary Establishments of the Ministry of Justice, on March 7 Shant Arutyunyan was transferred into a single cell because of sharp deterioration of his health condition. Mr Arutyunyan was visited in his cell by Gabriel Agaronyan, head of the psychiatry ward of the prison hospital, in relation to whom Arutyunyan behaved extremely aggressively.