Margareta Kiener Nellen, Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Committee on Democracy and Human Rights, has raised the case of Mher Yeghiazaryan—who died in a prison in Armenia following a hunger strike—with the human rights defender (ombudsman) of the country, according to the OSCE PA Twitter account.  

“Untimely death in custody of a prisoner is concerning,” the Twitter post also reads. “Further information on the case is important.”

Inmate Mher Yeghiazaryan, Vice-Chairman of Armenian Eagles: United Armenia party, was on a hunger strike for 44 days at the Nubarashen penitentiary in capital city Yerevan, but he had ended the hunger strike on January 17.

On January 26 at around 6:15am, however, an ambulance was called to the prison because 51-year-old Yeghiazaryan’s health had sharply grown worse; and at around 6։35am, he was pronounced dead.

As reported earlier, it was found out that Armenian Eagles: United Armenia party vice-chairman Mher Yeghiazaryan, who was also the person in charge of Haynews.am news website, had misused the trust in him by several people and committed large-scale fraud, from February 2014 to October 2018.