Let’s recall that ambulance doctor Laura Kshtoyan had announced in court that Razmik was physically unable to be present at the court hearing and that he had to be transferred to the hospital. Then, they had transferred Razmik to the isolation ward. The Ministry of Justice of Armenia did not reject our favor to visit Razmik Sargsyan with the attorneys. First, they directed us to head of the ward A. Sargsyan’s office. There we saw head of the Medical University and therapist Edward Nazaretyan among other doctors. It was decided beforehand that Razmik was going to be examined by his doctors and independent doctors in order to provide objective information regarding his health. However, that was not possible because the doctors expressed contradicting opinions and were split in two. Head of the Nubarashen police department Aram Sargsyan denied the news published in the press claiming that Razmik has been forced to eat. “He has not been forced to eat anything. It is forbidden to force Razmik or any other hunger striker to eat. I am not afraid to say that that would be something like violating the rights of the hunger striker.” In response to my question as to whether or not it was true that the hunger striker has eaten secretly, A. Sargsyan said the following: “That is only information given a month and a half ago. The cameramen and workers claimed that he was eating. Since I couldn’t prove anything, I couldn’t lead legal proceedings on this. This was the reason why I couldn’t stop the hunger strike.” However, we must consider the fact that if the head of the police department could follow up on the hunger striker with technical devices if he suspected, but he reasoned that they didn’t have that kind of device.
They directed us to Razmik. He was sitting on a couch and was leaning on the wall in some position. He was very weak and could barely talk. Razmik told us that he had sharp pain in his kidneys and his head hurt a lot. He was making nervous movements while talking and his face was getting red and changing position. He could not remember many things, however, he did remember that Laura Alaverdyan had visited him and persuaded him to stop the hunger strike. I ask him “What do you want to achieve with the hunger strike? You will have major health problems.” He barely said: “Let them present the case to the civil prosecutor’s office, start a new investigation so that the truth will be revealed, let everyone see what is going on, rather than getting a testimony by beating. If they don’t violate my rights, I will immediately stop the hunger strike. I am not too pleased with the idea of committing suicide. I feel bad…I don’t find it necessary. I just want to stand up for my rights. I don’t trust the military prosecutors. When the civil prosecutor investigates the case, I will stop the hunger strike. If not, I will never stop.” Two prisoners took Razmik to the doctor’s office holding his two arms. The boy could not make any movement by himself. Even the doctor showed how they should hold him in order to not cause any harm. They laid him down and took his clothes off in some way. It was interesting to see how therapist Edward Nazaretyan was looking at all of this. He entered the doctor’s office for an instant, touched Razmik’s stomach, the liver and then left. It was amazing to see the therapist examine the patient that way. By getting acquainted with the cardiogram, he said: “It’s good. Everything is fine.” He also stated that the boy’s situation was normal after a long period of hunger strike because there are other means of feeding. “I looked at the internal organs, the heart, his blood pressure, his lungs and I see nothing negative. His life is not in danger. We will not let him refuse to eat and slowly die. Being a doctor also means to be humanist. We inject vitamin complexes, we inject glucose in the skin; we can force him to eat if his relatives wish. We used to do that with hogwash before, but now I can’t do anything if the relatives don’t allow me to,” he says. In contrast to Nazaretyan, therapist Maya Harutyunyan (independent doctor) claimed that Razmik’s health was bad after examining him for a long time (she noticed enlargement of the liver, fast beating of the heart and other illnesses). The doctor’s allegations about Razmik’s health and that the boy had to be examined for long time at the hospital caused a scandal. The doctors split in two-independent doctors and the defendant’s doctors. Independent doctors were trying to prove that Razmik’s life is in danger, while the other side was denying that without taking into consideration the evidence brought up by the first group. What’s interesting though is that E. Nazaretyan was in the group of doctors from the police department and even offended the independent doctors in front of everybody, saying “Are you teaching a professor like me?” Later, we found out from sources that E. Nazaretyan is a friend of Gagik Jhangiryan, so his visit was planned beforehand. The humanitarian doctor quickly left and did not emphasize the importance of showing medical aid to the boy, who was on the verge of dying.