By Hayk Khanumyan
#DemocracyWatch – Following the 2018 Velvet Revolution, law-enforcement agencies increasingly appeared to act on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s metaphorical and often confrontational political rhetoric. In 2018–2019, statements such as “laying someone on the asphalt” and “throwing them against the walls” were followed by highly publicized arrests and displays of force against former officials’ bodyguards and people linked to the criminal underworld. These operations were frequently filmed and made public, turning law-enforcement actions into carefully staged spectacles and reinforcing the perception that Pashinyan’s political rhetoric could translate directly into law-enforcement practice.
This use of arrests as public spectacle has continued in subsequent years, including during the latest pre-election and post-election period. It has also been accompanied by public threats and accusations directed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at law-enforcement agencies and the courts.
A recent example was the arrest and subsequent detention of former Finance Minister and State Revenue Committee Chairman Gagik Khachatryan. His lawyers and family argued that Khachatryan had serious spinal health problems, while law-enforcement authorities maintained that there were legal grounds for his detention because of the risk that he could obstruct the investigation or abscond.
Regardless of the merits of these competing claims, the way the proceedings were carried out raised a separate concern: whether Khachatryan’s dignity was respected.
Masked National Security Service officers arrested Khachatryan at his home despite his limited ability to move. He was later brought to court on a stretcher, and the detention hearing was conducted while he remained lying on it.
The investigation into Khachatryan’s alleged illicit enrichment is a separate matter. The origins of the considerable wealth accumulated by a former senior state official should be investigated through proper legal procedures. But pursuing accountability should not require humiliating the person under investigation. Human-rights advocates criticized the way the proceedings were conducted.
Human-rights defender Zaruhi Hovhannisyan argued that the proceedings risked shifting from the restoration of justice toward violations of personal dignity and treatment that could amount to degrading treatment. She also referred to previous rulings by the European Court of Human Rights finding Armenia in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Artur Sakunts, head of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office, similarly argued that the court should not have allowed such treatment. He said that bringing a person into a courtroom on a stretcher and conducting the hearing while he remained on it was degrading to human dignity.
The Khachatryan case is not an isolated example. In early July, opposition figure and businessman Gagik Tsarukyan was arrested at his home. Despite reportedly offering no resistance, masked NSS special forces officers used force against the 70-year-old Tsarukyan, taking him to the ground and removing him from the house. The operation was filmed and the footage was later made public.
Such highly publicized arrests have not been limited to former officials and political figures. In October 2025, lawyer Aleksandr Kochubayev was arrested after making a Facebook post concerning investigators and prosecutors. His arrest was also criticized for the disproportionate use of force and the humiliating manner in which it was carried out.
The central concern in these cases is respect for human dignity. Regardless of the allegations against an individual or the legal grounds for arrest and detention, law-enforcement actions should respect the dignity of the person being arrested. When arrests involve excessive force, humiliation, or deliberate publicity, the process risks becoming less about administering justice and more about sending a public message.
Combined with public threats and accusations by the prime minister directed at law-enforcement agencies and the courts, this raises broader questions about institutional independence and the separation between political messaging and the administration of justice.
The pursuit of accountability cannot come at the expense of human dignity. Regardless of the severity of the alleged crime, every person accused of a criminal offense is entitled to dignified and humane treatment. Genuine justice requires impartial investigation, due process, an independent judiciary and respect for human dignity throughout the process.
Democracy Watch is a joint initiative of CivilNet and the Regional Center for Democracy and Security.