Hunger striker dying?
"My brother has been on a hunger strike since January 11. Today, he was brought to the Court of Appeals fatigued. He was entirely swollen, complained about his heart and lost consciousness. The ambulance arrived and took my brother. Nobody has told me where they took him and the condition that he is in," said Karine, the sister of 23-year old Ashot Shahzadyan, who has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Ashot Shahzadyan was sentenced for the brutal massacre that took place in Ayntap village on May 23. The victim was Gayane Asoyan, whom, according to the preliminary investigative body, Ashot Shahzadyan had killed, in accordance with the elements of Article 104 (1) of the RA Criminal Code.
Ashot Shahzadyan's public attorney Angela Karapetyan told "A1+" that her client had rejected the testimonies given during the preliminary investigation and mentioned that "he had taken the blame under pressure".
According to the lawyer, Ashot Shahzadyan had told the preliminary investigative body the name of the killer (Temur Azoyan), who is a resident of Ayntap, but the investigators changed the demand in the article during the case examination and made the charge stricter, adding rape.
The lawyer assures that the preliminary inquiry didn't show any traces of rape on the body of the deceased, but Shahzadyan was charged with rape by the investigators' demand.
The first instance court didn't find the charge convincing and sentenced Shahzadyan to prison for murder and a rape attempt.
In addition, a couple of days after the incident, Temur Azoyan disappeared, and the preliminary inquiry body still hasn't found him. Citing the testimonies given by Azoyan's relatives, stating that he had left for Germany to visit his brother, the preliminary inquiry body upheld the testimonies and closed that part of the case.
The lawyer informs that the preliminary inquiry body hasn't even tried to question the testimony of Azoyan's relatives according to which they didn't know their elder son's address or the name of the German city where they believe their son is living and where 29-year old Temur Azoyan had gone.
The lawyer also mentioned that the only thing that was revealed was that Azoyan, on June 6, 14 days after the incident, had left for Moscow from Zvartnots Airport. In Armenia, all embassies granting Shengen Visas said they had not provided any visas with the name and last name of Temur Azoyan.
Ashot Shahzadyan has been on a hunger strike at Nubarashen Penitentiary for 40 days. His lawyer also wasn't aware of where the ambulance truck took her client.
