Candidates demand that law enforcement agencies answer two questions (video)
Manuk Sukiasyan from the Tsarukyan alliance demands that law enforcement agencies reply two questions concerning the death of Artur Sargsyan, the man who died in a Yerevan hospital on Thursday. “Was his second arrest a matter of necessity? Who Artur interfere anyone if he was not kept in custody? I demand explanations from the Investigation Committee and the Office of the Prosecutor General. If they are unable to give an explanation, it means they carried out a political order. Artur became a victim of conscience; his death will remain a stigma on the forehead of our state as long as investigators continues to execute a political order each time when arresting a new person,” Manuk Sukiasyan said on March 17. Edgar Arakelyan from the Armenian Renaissance Party added in turn, “Artur could have been released earlier and shown proper medical assistance. I am sorry and I think that they could prevent Artur’s death.” Gevorg Gorgisyan from the Yelk (Way Out) alliance said ‘death cannot become a subject of populism.’ “We are not going to stop our campaign rallies and we shall fight to rule out repetition of such occurrences. We must win the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). As long as the law does not work in our country, none of us is insured against incidents. We should make voters understand this,” he said. Artur Sargsyan, nicknamed the “bringer of bread” for taking food to members of the Sasna Dzrer group who seized a Yerevan police building last July and remained barricaded there for nearly two weeks, died on March 16 while being treated at the Armenia Medical Center. He died ten days after being released from prison following a 25-day hunger strike. Sargsyan, 49, underwent urgent bowel surgery at the hospital the previous night. Artur Sargsyan was first arrested last August for aiding the gunmen and released in December because of his deteriorating health condition. He was again arrested in February 2017 allegedly for not showing up in the hearing of last year’s standoff. Sargsyan began a hunger strike in protest against his detention. He was released from pre-trial detention earlier in March after six MPs from several political parties paid a bail for him in the amount of 3million drams.
