Armenia`s Justice Minister on the death of a Stepanavan mayoral candidate: Arrest is an exceptional measure, and the number of alternative preventive measures exceeds 3,000

ArmInfo. Arrest as a preventive measure is used significantly less frequently than house arrest or administrative supervision, the number of which exceeds 3,000. Armenian Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan stated this in a conversation with journalists on November 10, commenting on the death of Arsen Gevorgyan, a candidate for the post of head of the Stepanavan community from the Strong Armenia party, who was in custody.

Galyan noted with regret that similar cases occur both worldwide and in penal institutions (PI). "In this case, I can only say that cardiac arrest was recorded. The issue of his health deteriorating was not raised during his stay in the institution. Early this morning, he complained of feeling unwell. At 7:55 a.m., a paramedic visited him and examined him. An ambulance was later called, after which cardiac arrest was confirmed. I cannot add anything further on this matter," the minister said.

Reacting to the Strong Armenia party's statement that responsibility for Gevorgyan's death lies with the Armenian authorities, Galyan emphasized that the incident is a regrettable incident, which is also regretted by government officials. "Last year, more than 20 deaths were registered, and this year, there have already been four. People with health problems often end up in custody. It appears that Strong Armenia is accusing the authorities of imprisoning people. We have repeatedly emphasized that this is not political persecution. I do not want to list the alleged crimes in question, as we all know about them. "I believe that the state must respond appropriately to committed or suspected offenses. Solving crimes is the state's responsibility," stated the head of the Armenian Ministry of Justice.

When asked whether the incident could lead to a review of the practice of using arrest as a preventive measure, the minister responded that this issue does not directly fall within the purview of the Ministry of Justice, as the agency does not initiate arrest petitions or make decisions on this preventive measure. Galyan, however, assured that arrest is an exceptional measure and is used only in cases of extreme necessity. "The Ministry of Justice, together with the Ministry of Health, is working to revise the list of illnesses that may warrant release from custody." "A new decision is expected soon that will expand the possibilities for releasing individuals with health conditions incompatible with imprisonment," Galyan added.

At the same time, she believes that, compared to previous years, there has been clear progress in this area—in terms of ensuring adequate medical care and medications, as well as in the speed of response, the availability of qualified specialists, and more. Furthermore, the minister assured that it is in their best interests not to resort to frequent arrests, given that penitentiary facilities have limitations.

Earlier, the party's head of communications and public relations, Nelly Avetisyan, confirmed to ArmInfo that Arsen Gevorkyan died in a pretrial detention facility. According to Armenian media reports, he suffered a heart attack.

As a reminder, on October 21, the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia opened a criminal case against Arsen Gevorgyan, who headed the Strong Armenia party's proportional list in the Stepanavan Municipal Council elections, and 13 other individuals. It was later reported that the court ordered Gevorgyan arrested for two months. Five others were placed under two-month pretrial detention or house arrest.

It is noteworthy that the day before these events, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered to write to him personally to those citizens and candidates for community heads in the local government elections who were under pressure from the ruling Civil Contract party. However, by the evening of that same day, he himself began threatening representatives of the opposition. It should be noted that all this happened before the local government elections in Stepanavan.