Armenian Nationalist Leader Ends Hunger Strike In Detention

Armeniam opposition activist Shant Harutiunian (center) leads an antigovernment demonstration from Yerevan's Liberty Square late last year.

YEREVAN -- The lawyer for the leader of Armenia's nationalist Tsegakron party says her client has ended his 17-day hunger strike while in pretrial detention.

Inessa Petrosian told journalists in Yerevan on January 10 that Shant Harutiunian had been transferred to a prison hospital due to health complications.

Harutiunian launched the hunger strike in December to protest a decision by investigators not to allow his family to visit him.

The ban on relatives' visits has not yet been lifted.

Harutiunian was arrested in November after party activists clashed with police in Yerevan while trying to march to the presidential office building.

Dozens were injured, including four police.

Harutiunian has been charged with violence against law-enforcement officers and faces up to 10 years in jail.

He says his arrest is politically motivated.

No trial date has been set.