Armen Grigorian, a well-known entertainment producer, was arrested and indicted in May 2022 in connection with a 2021 video in which he made disparaging comments about residents of two Armenian regions sympathetic to the government. The National Security Service accused him of offending their “national dignity.”
Grigorian, who for years harshly criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, rejected the accusations as politically motivated. Opposition figures and other government critics also denounced the criminal proceedings launched against him.
Grigorian, 56, collapsed in the courtroom in July 2022 as his lawyer petitioned the presiding judge to release him from custody. He was pronounced dead moments later.
The then human rights ombudswoman, Kristine Grigorian (no relation to Armen), expressed outrage at the antigovernment activist’s death, saying that he clearly did not receive adequate medical care in prison. None of the judges or law-enforcement officials responsible for his detention were fired or subjected to disciplinary action afterwards.
“Defendant Armen Grigorian's guilt in committing this act has been proven,” Mnatsakan Martirosian, a controversial judge presiding over his trial, said in his verdict in the case.
The late defendant’s lawyer, Ruben Melikian, said in he will “definitely” appeal against the guilty verdict.
No government loyalists in Armenia are known to have been prosecuted on such charges to date. Several members of the ruling Civil Contract avoided prosecution this fall after verbally attacking ethnic Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh taking part in anti-government rallies in Yerevan. One of them, a village mayor, said such refugees must be stripped of government aid while another urged the Armenian authorities to deport them from the country.