An inmate at Armenia’s Abovyan Penitentiary nailed his testicles to a chair yesterday after doctors refused to provide him with various medications, this according to the inmate’s lawyer Edgar Tovmasyan.

Tovmasyan told Hetq that his client has medical issues and was taking sedatives.

The lawyer claims that doctors yesterday refused to provide his client with the sedatives, thus leading to the incident described above.

“I went to visit. Even with the inmate in that condition, medical care wasn’t provided. We called the doctor. He didn’t come. They were on strike,” says the Tovmasyan.

Director of the Center for Penitentiary Medicine SNCO Ara Hovhannisyan said that the medical staff of the SNCO at Armavir Penitentiary organized a protest yesterday because "there was some tension among the drug addicts". The latter demanded psychotropic drugs without a doctor's prescription, which were not given by doctors.

“Besides, we have personnel issues. We are unable to provide a psychiatrist with the capacity to offer counseling. The personnel issue is very serious. We have raised salaries, etc., but there is still a problem with staffing,” says Hovhannisyan.

Hovhannisyan says that the Armavir Penitentiary is a large institution with many patients. Even transferring a prisoner to a civilian hospital creates difficulties. According to the SNCO Director, inmates sometimes make arrangements with their doctors and demand that they be transferred to a civilian hospital.

The Armavir Penitentiary did have a psychiatrist, but he later resigned. They haven’t been able to hire a replacement.

“Practicing doctors are already saying they don't want to work for obvious reasons. The main problem is the large number of patients and the illegitimate demands of drug addicts,” says Hovhannisyan.

“The Deputy Chief of the Correctional Service visited the Armavir Penitentiary yesterday.  There was discussion and it seems they’ve found a solution. They have drafted a schedule for patient visits. Several patients, at once, had been coming to see the doctor and the medical staff was unable to provide assistance,” says Hovhannisyan.