Karo Yeghnukyan, activist arrested over assistance to Sasna Tsrer  group, stops hunger strike

ArmInfo. Karo Yeghnukyan, an arrested member of the Founding Parliament opposition movement who was arrested over assistance to Sasna Tsrer group, has stopped his hunger strike.  Yeghnukyan's lawyer Tigran Hayrapetyan says his client stopped hunger strike at the request of medics, after his  health condition deteriorated as he stopped taking medicines too.  Nevertheless, the lawyer says, Yeghnukyan intends to continue his  fight and attend all trials on the given case.

Earlier, on October 20 members of Founding Parliament opposition  movement Zhirayr Sefilyan and Varuzhan Avetisyan urged Karo  Yeghnukyan to stop hunger strike. 

"A hunger strike is the emergency method of fight for a political  prisoner, but a human life does not matter for the anti- Armenian and  inhumane regime in Armenia. At the same time, thanks to hunger  strike, infringement of your rights and the rights of the other  political prisoners sparked public outcry, Consequently, we urge him  to stop at this achievement and save oneself for further fight," they  said in a statement. 

Earlier, Yeghnukyan's daughter Elmon posted on Facebook that her  father has serious health problems, suffers from low blood pressure  and cannot move on his own after 13 days of hunger strike and 9kg  weight loss. He warns that further hunger strike is dangerous of  Yeghnukyan's life. The activist's lawyer Tigran Hayrapetyan visited  him and urged to stop hunger strike. Earlier, Defense offered $1  million bail for him, but the court rejected.

To note, Yeghnukyan spread a statement on August 19 from the  isolation ward of National Security Service in which he considers  that the criminal case initiated against him is framed up. He was  detained on July 20 after his flat was searched. On July 22 National  Security Service filed a charge under Article 218 Part 3 (assistance  to hostage taking) and Article 219 Part 3 (assistance to seizure of  buildings).  Earlier Yeghnukyan was stating that despite his  membership in  Founding Parliament he knew nothing about seizure of  Police Patrol  Service Regiment.  Refering to Yeghnukyan's posts in  Facebook and his tapped phone  calls, the law-enforcement says he  disseminated misinformation  allegedly about military hardware moving  towards the police compound seized by Sasna Tsrer group or alleged  poisoning of the group members  with the food transferred by the  Police. Besides, the Police say  Yeghnukyan led the protesters to  Khorenatsi Street and tried to  ensure radio communication of the  armed group members with their  families.  Yeghnukyan with his wife  and five children moved to Armenia in 2009 from U.S. They are all  U.S.  citizens.