GYUMRI. – A march in memory of “Food Provider” Artur Sargsyan was held Sunday in Gyumri, the second largest city of Armenia.

The demonstrators, chanting and holding signs and bread, marched towards the central square, the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informed from Gyumri.

Subsequently, they lit candles at the Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God, which also known as the Our Lady of Seven Wounds, where a requiem mass was held in Sargsyan’s memory.  

Artur Sargsyan, a.k.a. the Food Provider, died on March 16 at “Armenia” Medical Center, in capital city Yerevan

Sargsyan, who was charged with aiding the Sasna Tsrer armed group, was released from prison on December 31, 2016, since he had an illness that was incompatible with imprisonment. 

On February 9 of this year, however, he was arrested yet again.

Subsequently, Sargsyan went on hunger strike, and demanded that his preventive measure of arrest be commuted.

But sometime thereafter, and with a written guarantee by several dozen MPs, he was released from prison and immediately hospitalized.

Several days later, however, he left the hospital on his own volition.

But his health grew worse on the evening of March 15, and he was rushed to “Armenia” Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery; but he did not regain consciousness after this operation.

The Sasna Tsrer armed group had taken over a police patrol regiment building in Yerevan, taken hostages, but later surrendered, in July 2016. 

The violent confrontation, however, had lead to repeated clashes between protesters and police.

On July 26, Artur Sargsyan had broken through a police cordon with a vehicle loaded with food, and delivered food to the Sasna Tsrer gunmen.

Sargsyan, 48, was a sculptor and a wood engraver.