The editor of an Armenian opposition newspaper serving a prison sentence for
draft evasion will again be hospitalized after being diagnosed with a serious
disease, prison authorities said on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Justice Ministry department overseeing Armenia’s prison told
RFE/RL that the administration of Yerevan’s Erebuni jail made the decision after
Arman Babajanian of the “Zhamanak Yerevan” newspaper was examined by doctors
earlier in the day.

The official, Arsen Babayan, said the doctors led by the chief neurologist of
the Armenian Ministry of Health concluded that Babajanian is suffering from poor
blood circulation through his head and cerebral problems. Although they said the
32-year-old can be treated in the prison the Erebuni administration decided to
transfer him to a civilian hospital on Thursday, added Babayan.

According to Zaruhi Postanjian, an opposition parliamentarian, Babajanian was
also examined by a group of other doctors on Monday. They concluded that his
health is even more serious, said Postanjian.

Babajanian was already taken to a prison hospital in August 2007 and spent
several months there recovering from heart trouble.

Babajanian was arrested in June 2006 and subsequently sentenced to
three-and-a-half years in prison. Armenian courts convicted him of forging
documents to dodge military draft. While pleading guilty to the accusations,
Babajanian says that he would not have been prosecuted shortly after his return
to Armenia from the United States had his newspaper been loyal to the
government.

Under Armenian law, convicts that have served at least one third of their prison
sentences can ask a special commission appointed by the president of the
republic to release them on parole. Babajanian has been repeatedly denied parole
over the past year. The commission most recently rejected his parole application
on July 18, despite renewed calls for the editor’s early release voiced by
fellow newspaper editors and Armenia’s human rights ombudsman. The editors
argued that he has already served two years, the length of compulsory military
service in Armenia.

By Anna Saghabalian