Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
April 3 2010

Armenian premier gets ‘cerebral stroke’, official denies report

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan was taken to hospital with
"cerebral stroke" on 2 April in Yerevan, the pro-opposition Haykakan
Zhamanak daily reported on 3 April. The paper says that Sargsyan’s
health "sharply aggravated" on 2 April, and quotes sources in
Yerevan’s Nairi medical centre saying the prime minister received a
cerebral stroke.

The prime minister’s aide, Aram Ananyan, denied the reports, telling
journalists the prime minister "is passing ordinary medical
examination, he feels very well at present", the paper reports.
Armenian Minister of Health Harutyun Kushkyan has told the paper
Sargsyan had "increase in pressure and is passing medical
examination". The prime minister, who had been transported to the
medical centre at about noon of 2 April, was still in the medical
centre by midnight local time, Haykakan Zhamanak said.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and members of the government
visited the prime minister at the medical centre in the late evening
of 2 April, the pro-opposition Aravot daily said on 3 April.

The reports on the illness of the prime minister might be simply a
"show" to ensure that former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is
appointed to the office of the prime minister, Haykakan Zhamanak
quoted anonymous sources in the government as saying in a separate
report on 3 April.