Vahan Shirkhanyan not to be transferred to another prison (video)
Vahan Shirkhanyan, a former Minister of Defense, will not be transferred from the Yerevan-Kentron penitentiary institution to another prison. “When they decided to transfer him (Shirkhanyan) to the Armavir prison we appealed to all possible instances, even to the European Court. One of the questions of the European Court concerned Shirkhanyan’s health and the necessity to transfer him to another, a much farther prison given his health condition,” lawyer Hayk Alumyan said. On November 25, 2015, Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) said it had uncovered a criminal gang in one of the house of Yerevan’s Nork district, which had hidden arms and ammunition inside the building. The NSS claimed that the gang planned to stage ‘serious crimes’ and that Artur Vardanyan, a citizen of Armenia living in Spain since 1997, was the mastermind of the gang. Shirkhanyan is one of the defendants in the case. He is charged with being an accomplice to the conspiracy. At present, Shirkhanyan cannot attend the trail because of health problems. He has asked for a stretcher. “He simply cannot sit in his place for more than 25 minutes. He wants to participate in the hearings. If he is given a stretcher, he will show up in the sittings” The next court sitting is scheduled for March 10.
