A doctor who arrived in Armenia from Germany, Professor Dr. Nils Hansen Algenstaedt, was not allowed to visit former State Revenue Committee chairman Gagik Khachatryan, who is being held in custody, according to a statement from his defense team.
The lawyers said that as of September 18, 2026, 16 days after Khachatryan was remanded in custody and transferred to Yerevan-Kentron penitentiary, he still had not received medical care corresponding to his health condition despite repeated motions from the defense. They said he had not been seen by his attending physician or a relevant specialist, had not been moved to a specialized medical facility, and had not undergone the necessary examinations. Only painkillers had been provided.
The defense team said that because of his serious condition and inability to move independently, Khachatryan had been taken to previous court hearings on a stretcher while semi-conscious. It added that some limited measures had been secured following intervention by the Human Rights Defender’s Office, but that the threat to his life and health had not been eliminated.
According to the statement, Khachatryan’s family arranged for Nils Hansen Algenstaedt, who had previously operated on him, to travel to Armenia. Defense lawyers petitioned for the doctor to be allowed to visit and examine the patient at Yerevan-Kentron penitentiary, but the request was denied.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, lawyer Erem Sargsyan said the motion had been rejected on the grounds that a doctor arriving from another country first needed authorization from the competent body. He argued, however, that this was Khachatryan’s treating physician, who was supposed only to examine him and provide a consultation.
Sargsyan said the refusal appeared to be an attempt to prevent an independent doctor from seeing Khachatryan. In his words, only doctors selected by the authorities are being allowed access, while independent physicians are being kept away for what he described as formal reasons.
The defense also recalled that by a decision of the General Prosecutor’s Office dated August 29, 2026, the criminal case opened on June 7, 2026 against the former SRC chairman was amended and supplemented, and a new public criminal prosecution was launched within proceedings being handled by the Investigative Committee. Khachatryan was detained on September 1 after law enforcement officers searched his apartments, his son’s apartments, and the offices and branches of 21 affiliated companies.
Those actions were taken within a criminal case involving allegations of accepting bribes on an especially large scale and laundering money on an especially large scale. On September 2, a two-month detention order was imposed on him as a preventive measure.
The defense had earlier, on September 1, published video showing the ill Khachatryan being pulled from his bed and placed on a stretcher to be taken to court. Once in court, he was laid across chairs, which his lawyers described as a continuation of torture. On September 10, Erem Sargsyan said the European Court of Human Rights had sent a request to the Armenian government regarding a complaint filed by Khachatryan’s defense.
