Gagik Khachatryan's Legal Team Appeals to the Human Rights Defender

Gagik Khachatryan's legal team submitted a complaint to the Armenian Human Rights Defender on February 3, regarding violations of Khachatryan's rights and freedoms by the prosecuting bodies, the RA Prosecutor General's Office, the RA Ministry of Justice's penitentiary service, and the RA Ministry of Justice's Center for Penitentiary Medicine. The complaint also addresses the ill-treatment he has experienced.

Defense attorney Yerem Sargsyan noted that the complaint detailed all the violations that have occurred regarding G. Khachatryan since the beginning of the investigation into this criminal case.

Among other things, it was noted that G. Khachatryan has been undergoing regular treatment at the Orthocenter Medical Center in Hamburg, Germany, since 2015, where he has undergone three surgeries. The last major and complicated surgery took place in early 2018, where an implant was placed in his spinal area. After that, he was supposed to receive mandatory post-surgical rehabilitation care to avoid surgical complications and the need for a second operation. However, after receiving a phone call from the investigator regarding the criminal case being examined in Armenia, he immediately interrupted his post-surgical recovery treatment, returned, and appeared before the investigator, where a travel restriction was applied to him.

As Gagik Khachatryan's health condition worsened, the doctor-professor who performed the surgery provided written information that he must continue his post-surgical rehabilitation treatment to avoid the necessity of a second surgery. We informed the prosecuting bodies about this and requested that G. Khachatryan be allowed to travel to Hamburg for medical treatment for one week.

The discussion of this request was postponed by the investigator, citing that the Minister of Health had instructed a medical council to be convened with the participation of leading specialists to determine whether G. Khachatryan has a condition that requires treatment.

The medical council concluded that G. Khachatryan requires a second surgery to correct stenosis, which cannot be performed in Armenia. Naturally, after receiving this conclusion, the prosecuting bodies were obliged to grant the defense's request and allow G. Khachatryan to travel to Germany for treatment. However, the prosecuting authorities, in agreement with the Ministry of Health, managed to avoid providing the conclusion of the council issued on July 4, 2019, to the prosecuting bodies, which was only provided two months later, in September, after G. Khachatryan was detained, thus depriving him of the opportunity to undergo surgery.

Unavoidably, due to not receiving the necessary post-surgical rehabilitation treatment, the need for a second surgery arose, and due to not undergoing the necessary second surgery and receiving no treatment in the penitentiary institution for about five months, G. Khachatryan's health condition has deteriorated further. An ambulance was even called to the penitentiary, and upon his defense attorney's request, he was transferred and examined at the Astghik Medical Center, where the summoned medical council also noted his negative health dynamics and stated that he requires inpatient treatment. However, once state competent authorities learned about the need for treatment, G. Khachatryan was immediately transferred back to the penitentiary, thus depriving him of the opportunity for treatment and preserving his health.

Since January 23, 2020, G. Khachatryan's defense team has repeatedly demanded in writing his transfer to a medical center and the provision of necessary treatment, but these requests have been ignored. Therefore, among other actions, the legal team has also filed a complaint with the Armenian Human Rights Defender, hoping that he will record these violations by the state competent authorities, which would be a signal to prevent such discriminatory, illegal, and arbitrary treatment in the future.