Observers were denied access to the medical documents of the deceased Armenian opposition figure Gevorkyan.
The deceased representative of the opposition party "Strong Armenia" Arsen Gevorkyan, who died in pre-trial detention, had not previously complained about his health, observers reported.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on November 10, Arsen Gevorkyan, a candidate from the opposition party "Strong Armenia" for the position of head of the Stepanavan community, died in the Yerevan pre-trial detention center "Nubarashen". He was arrested on October 21 on charges of bribing voters, which he denied. According to preliminary reports, the cause of death was a heart attack, while the party blamed the initiators of the criminal prosecution of opposition members for what happened.
According to the Anti-Corruption Committee, before the municipal elections, Gevorkyan, with the assistance of others, gave money to several dozen voters in exchange for voting for "Strong Armenia". The politician himself rejected the accusations. His lawyers stated that the funds were intended for campaign expenses and were transferred between representatives of the same political force.
Arsen Gevorkyan had not previously complained about his health; however, on the day of his death, he felt a sudden malaise, according to representatives of the Prison Monitoring Group, which conducts public oversight in places of detention. This information was provided by the head of the monitoring group Arman Saakyan and its member Shushan Khankoyan, who spoke with the head of the pre-trial detention center and Gevorkyan's cellmates.
According to observers, on the morning of November 10, Gevorkyan complained of heart pain. His cellmates reported this to the guards, after which the duty doctor was called. After examining the inmate, he called an ambulance. By the time the medical team arrived, Gevorkyan was still conscious, but his condition was critical, notes the publication News.am.
At the same time, the prison administration refused to provide observers with Gevorkyan's medical documentation, citing medical and investigative confidentiality. Representatives of the monitoring group noted that such restrictions hinder full public oversight of the health of inmates. In particular, in the case of sudden death, a person cannot give prior consent for human rights defenders to access their medical documents.
Meanwhile, the penal enforcement service of the Armenian Ministry of Justice responded to reports from the lawyers of the former candidate for the position of head of the Stepanavan community that doctors were allowed into the pre-trial detention center only after Gevorkyan's death.
"Considering the discussions in public circles, as well as to eliminate unnecessary speculation, we present the exact chronology of events recorded on the morning of November 10, 2026, by surveillance cameras installed near the cell of inmate Arsen Gevorkyan," the publication "Arminfo" quotes the message.
According to the published chronology, from 7:37 to 7:41 on November 10, a pre-trial detention center employee spoke with Gevorkyan, and at 7:42 a nurse approached the cell. At 08:10, an ambulance crew arrived at the facility, and 13 minutes later, Gevorkyan was carried out of the cell on a stretcher. "From 08:27 to 08:33 in the corridor of the facility, (Gevorkyan) was connected to an electrocardiography machine, during which the doctor confirmed his death," reported the penal enforcement service of the Armenian Ministry of Justice.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that criminal cases against representatives of the Armenian opposition have repeatedly become grounds for accusations against the Armenian authorities of political persecution. Thus, on November 5 of this year, a court placed the leader of the "Strong Armenia" party, Samvel Karapetyan, in custody for a month in a case of financial abuses at the company "Electric Networks of Armenia". Karapetyan rejected the accusations, and his supporters claimed they were politically motivated.
On October 23, 2026, the Anti-Corruption Court extended the detention of former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his son Sedrak, who are accused in a corruption and money laundering case. Opposition representatives called the criminal prosecution of Kocharyan politically motivated.