Ever since Hrachya Haroutyunyan, the 46 year-old truck driver from Armenia who was arrested in Russia on July 13 for crashing into a bus, he has had no telephone or written communication with his family in Yerevan.

Haroutyunyan’s daughter Lilit told Hetq that she gets news of her father from his lawyer.

The truck driver’s relatives in Russia have not been granted the opportunity to visit him in jail.

Lilit said that she had been thinking of travelling to Russia but changed her mind since she wouldn’t be allowed to see her father in any event.

18 people died when the dump truck Haroutyunyan collided with a bus in the Russian city of Podolsky on July 13.

Public opinion in Armenian decidedly soured against Russia when law enforcement brought Haroutyunyan to court dressed in a woman’s housecoat and slippers.

Lilit says her father has yet to be questioned by Russian investigators. Rather, the truck is being examined for possible mechanical defects.

The young woman told Hetq that her father’s lawyer is guardedly optimistic about the outcome of the case.

Photo (l to r): Lilit Haroutyunyan, Hovsep Haroutyunyan (Hrachya’s father) and Anahit (Hrachya’s wife). The photo was taken on July 16 at a demonstration outside the Russian Embassy in Yerevan demanding humane treatment for Hrachya.