Statement by the Lawyers of Vahagn Chakhalyan

April 25, 2009

On April 16, 2009 at about 13:00 our client, the Armenian political activist Vahagn Chakhalyan, who is currently held in Tbilisi prison No. 8, was taken out from his cell and subjected to sustained and brutal beating by prison officers.

This repulsive fact is a kind of «response» of the Georgian authorities to a broad wave of public discontent caused by the recent unfair verdict announced on Chakhalyan’s case and, in particular, to the protest action held on April 14 in front of the Embassy of Georgia in Paris.
We strongly condemn this atrocious act committed against our client, and we call upon the Public Defender of Georgia, as well as the relevant international organizations to monitoring the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to respond to this act of violence and to take all necessary measures in order to prevent similar actions with regard to Vahagn Chakhalyan in the future.

We also appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Vahagn Chakhalyan in the prison to assess the state of his health.

Patrick Arapian (France)
Stepan Voskanyan (Arménie)
Rostiashvili Zurab (Géorgie)