Lawyers for the arrested former head of the State Revenue Committee have appealed to the ECHR: the defense is warning of a threat to his life and is demanding permission to receive medical treatment abroad.

ArmInfo. Lawyers for arrested former head of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) Gagik Khachatryan have again appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demanding urgent action regarding his health. This was announced on September 2 at a press conference in Yerevan by international law specialist and attorney Ara Ghazaryan.

The attorney stated that in their statement, they demand Khachatryan's release from custody, an end to his transfer between institutions, and the opportunity to travel to Germany for necessary surgery. Ghazaryan noted that, according to the medical data presented, Khachatryan's functional capacity has been reduced by 66%. He stated that this means the investigator should have personally come to his home and informed him of the charges. "The ECHR already has two applications related to Khachatryan's case. The first concerns a possible violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment).

- ed. The second application, filed in 2024, is directly related to the threat to his life. Subsequently, the defense repeatedly appealed to the ECHR for urgent measures, in particular to lift his arrest. Following such appeals, the courts in several cases rejected the arrest requests. "An hour ago, we submitted our third application for urgent measures this year," the lawyer said.

Khazaryan noted that they expect the ECHR to intervene given the published footage showing Khachatryan's condition and the circumstances of his transportation. "If the European Court makes a corresponding decision and sends a request to the Armenian authorities, the state will be obliged to comply," the lawyer is confident.

For his part, lawyer Emin Khachatryan stated that his client's condition requires constant medical attention. "Due to his health, Khachatryan cannot fully participate in court hearings. The defense has previously repeatedly petitioned for his transfer to the hospital and for hearings to be held without his participation. I don't want to say this, but I have to—during the search, Khachatryan had a catheter with a urine bag inserted into his body, which has still not been replaced. Furthermore, he has not eaten for over a day, despite undergoing medication," the lawyer stated.

Khachatryan also stated that his client's problems with receiving the necessary treatment began back in 2019. "At that time, Khachatryan was prohibited from leaving Armenia, despite subsequent medical reports indicating the need for treatment abroad. In 2022, an examination revealed health problems and the need for surgery. It was determined that surgery in Armenia was only possible with the arrival of a specialist from Germany. The doctor who arrived in Armenia stated that the necessary surgery could not be performed in the country due to a lack of appropriate equipment. Despite this, Khachatryan was again banned from leaving the country," the lawyer said.

Thus, according to him, the court had permitted the former head of the State Revenue Committee to travel to Germany for rehabilitation treatment approximately 13 times, but whenever the surgery itself was in question, permission was denied. According to Khachatryan, the travel ban subsequently interrupted his rehabilitation treatment, and his condition worsened so much that he was effectively unable to participate in court proceedings.

A subsequent examination, according to the lawyer, came to a different conclusion: Khachatryan had health problems, but there was no need for surgery, and treatment could be carried out in Armenia. "What kind of examination showed that this treatment could be carried out in Armenia? Sometimes we need to forget 'who we're talking about' and simply understand: is this kind of treatment acceptable in Armenia or not," Khachatryan stated.

According to him, the defense has already sent appeals to the director of the Penitentiary Medicine Center, to penal institutions, and to the human rights defender, demanding that Khachatryan receive proper medical care.

As a reminder, by a decision of the Prosecutor General's Office on August 29, 2026, the criminal case opened on June 7, 2026, against the former chairman of the State Revenue Committee, as part of proceedings being reviewed by the Investigative Committee, was amended and supplemented, and a new public criminal prosecution was initiated. Khachatryan was detained on September 1 after security forces searched his and his son's apartments, as well as the offices and branches of 21 affiliated companies. These actions were carried out as part of criminal proceedings for large-scale bribery and large-scale money laundering. On September 2, he was placed under arrest for two months.

On September 1, the lawyers for the former head of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia posted a video showing the ailing Khachatryan being literally dragged out of bed and placed on a stretcher to be taken to court. In court, the former minister was forced onto chairs, which his legal team characterized as further torture.