Artur Mkrtchyan has been under the supervision of doctors since the first day of his hunger strike.

By the assignment of RA Minister of Justice Hrair Tovmasyan, the control inspectorate of the RA Ministry of Justice has studied the conditions of maintenance for prisoner Artur Mkrtchyan, who has been sentenced to death at Nubarashen penitentiary.

The Ministry of Justice reports that based on the study, the prisoner has been appointed round-the-clock special supervision.

"His health condition is satisfactory and there haven't been any negative changes. The cell conditions completely fall in line with the fixed norms, taking into account the state of the Nubarashen penitentiary as well. A separate cell has been furbished and it completely corresponds to the particularities for keeping prisoners who have declared hunger strikes. The prisoner was not found in his cell," as reported on the Justice Ministry's Facebook page.

The ministry reports that the changes in the timeframes prescribed by the Criminal Code don't refer to prisoner Artur Mkrtchyan.

We remind that there were rumors going around that prisoner Artur Mkrtchyan, who has declared a hunger strike from Dec. 7, had been transferred to another cell that lacks sanitary and hygienic conditions, which may have a bad impact on the prisoner's health.

Before Artur Mkrtchyan's hunger strike, he had written a letter to Serzh Sargsyan, mentioning: "I, Artur Mkrtchyan, citizen of the Republic of Armenia, illegitimately sentenced to death 16 years ago, and again illegitimately sentenced to life in prison in 2003, declare a hunger strike for an uncertain period as a sign of protest against the illegal acts since for me it is inacceptable to adapt to all that and cling from life just to maintain my existence."