The seriously injured members of the “Daredevils of Sasun” armed group are being “tortured” at the Convicts’ Hospital penitentiary, Ara Ghazaryan, a lawyer with the Foundation Against the Violation of Law NGO, and Inessa Petrosyan, a lawyer for 5 of the arrested gunmen, told a news conference on Monday, August 22. Seven of the arrestees, Petrosyan added, are currently not under the supervision of doctors.

“I’ve personally visited them at the hospital and seen that their rights are being violated. Several of my clients need to be transferred to the intensive care unit, while 7 people still need surgery,” the lawyer claimed, stressing that she planned to appeal against this treatment to relevant authorities.

According to Petrosyan, Pavel Manukyan, one of the key members of the armed group, underwent surgery on Friday and has to recover under medical supervision, but “the medical staff has stopped looking after him.”

“This is nothing but torture; it’s a disgrace. There is a political decision here,” the lawyer insisted.

Ara Gharagyozyan, a lawyer for arrestee Hovhannes Harutyunyan, for his part, announced that his client was also being tortured by the staff of the Convicts’ Hospital. “My client has serious health issues, but he is not provided with appropriate medical treatment and is evidently being tortured. Harutyunyan needs surgery, he is not even able to wiggle his toes, but doctors insist that ‘it’s not time yet.’ They are deliberately keeping him in pain, which is inhumane,” the lawyer said.

The head of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office, human rights activist Artur Sakunts, in turn, said that 770 ordinary citizens and demonstrators had been arrested within 14 days following the seizure by the armed group of the Erebuni police headquarters; meanwhile, Sakunts insisted, “ at least 300 police officers should have been prosecuted.”

“The Special Investigation Service is not particularly interested in arresting police officers. This is called selective justice, and it’s aimed at allowing senior officials to avoid criminal liability,” the human rights activist said. He went on to claim that many of the citizens are being “urged” by authorities not to file complaints against police officers. “The citizens and their parents are being ‘explained’ that these complaints would not change anything and would only complicate their lives.”