Alexander Kananyan stops his hunger strike

Alexander Kananyan, a resident of Karvachar, a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), has stopped his protest hunger strike after the start of a commission on studying the environmental impact of minor hydropower plants (HPPs). Meanwhile, his supporter, Mger Pogosyan, continues his hunger strike.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Alexander Kananyan, a political analyst, went on a hunger strike on January 21, 2020, demanding to stop the construction of minor HPPs on the Trtu (Terter) River, and check the environmental safety of all other HPPs in the region. On January 27, Mger Pogosyan, a resident of Stepanakert, the NKR capital, joined the Kananyan's hunger strike.

On February 4, Grigory Martirosyan, the NKR State Minister, met the members of the independent commission set up for studying the environmental impact of minor HPPs.

Alexander Kananyan wrote today in his Facebook page that he has stopped his hunger strike. "The first stage of the struggle to stop the construction of minor HPPs in Karvachar, which prevented the comprehensive resettlement and development of the district, destroyed and endangered the environment, is over. A representative commission has been set up with the aim to check the compliance of the project and operation of the existing minor HPPs with the legislation and environmental standards," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has translated Mr Kananyan's words.

In his turn, Mger Pogosyan, a resident of Stepanakert, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he had decided not to stop his hunger strike yet. "I decided to go on with it until the next day. I'll announce my decision on whether I continue it on February 5," Mr Pogosyan has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 4, 2020 at 11:53 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.