Health condition of Stepanakert hunger-strikers gets worse

Vardan Arzumanyan and Mais Bakhdadyan, Karabakh War veterans and supporters of the opposition, continue their hunger strike. Their health condition has aggravated, and they had to call an ambulance, but refuse to stop their protest action.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the participants in the rally organized by the Revolutionary Party on March 21 in Stepanakert demanded to postpone the voting at the parliamentary and presidential elections. On March 23, they launched a round-the-clock protest action and added the resignation of the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and the head of power bodies to their demands. On March 25, four oppositionists went on a hunger strike in Stepanakert. The next day, it became known that two of them stopped the hunger strike; however Vardan Arzumanyan and Mais Bakhdadyan continued their protest.

Arthur Osipyan, The leader of the Revolutionary Party, said that on March 29 the hunger-strikers' health condition worsened, and they had to call an ambulance. "They had problems with blood tension; now, the condition has normalized, and they continue their hunger strike," Mr Osipyan has stated, adding that the hunger-strikers sacrifice themselves "for the common good, for the restoration of justice and dignity, and a happy future for our children."

"Today, the mission of our movement is to prevent the old regime from reproducing itself through the upcoming March 31 elections [...] These two men have gone on a hunger strike to fight for the future, because if the old regime comes to power again, it will be a catastrophe for our people," Arthur Osipyan said over the telephone to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 30, 2020 at 06:09 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.