Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, in response to a letter sent by supporters of Armenian activist Shant Haroutyunyan, says he is closely monitoring the case of the Armenian activist who was arrested on November 5, 2013 after he and a group of supporters attempted to stage a ‘revolution’ in Yerevan.

In January 2014 some 1,500 citizens signed a petition in support of Haroutyunyan that was sent to Pope Francis, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Didier Burkhalter and Ban Ki-moon. 

The letter read: "On hunger strike now, he [Haroutyunyan] is left without necessary medical supervision in a critical condition, with no possibility of communicating with the outside world, he did not have the right to meet his family members, any visit and contact is refused to him and the other 14 political prisoners.”

In its 2013 annual report Human Rights Watch considered Haroutyunyan and thirteen other activists charged with assaulting representatives of the state as political prisoners.  

Haroutyunyan has since been transferred to a hospital for prisoners after being sent to a psychiatric ward. 

Photo: President Didier Burkhalter