The death was confirmed to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service by Nona Navikian, a spokesperson for Armenia’s Penitentiary Service.
Gevorgian, 46, was being held at the Nubarashen penitentiary in Yerevan. Navikian said an ambulance was called at around 7:55 a.m. on November 10 after Gevorgian’s health deteriorated. Medical personnel pronounced him dead at approximately 8:30 a.m., she added.
The Penitentiary Service did not disclose the cause of death, saying Gevorgian had not complained about his health while in custody. His relatives told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that he had died of a heart attack, adding that he had not previously reported any health problems.
Gevorgian was arrested on October 21, four days before the election in which he was running for mayor as a candidate of the opposition Strong Armenia party, on suspicion of distributing electoral bribes.
The Anti-Corruption Committee alleged that he and members of his campaign team had handed out bribes to dozens of voters and had prepared lists and money for another 30 people. Gevorgian denied the accusations.
The Strong Armenia party, which contested the October 25 elections in only one of the country’s 19 communities holding elections that day, received about 20 percent of the vote in Stepanavan, finishing third. The pro-government Business party came first, followed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s ruling Civil Contract party.
Strong Armenia accused the authorities of responsibility for Gevorgian’s death, claiming that his arrest had been part of a campaign to discredit the opposition.
“The person who orders hundreds of people to be unjustifiably discredited and arrested bears responsibility for the death of yet another opposition figure in prison,” the party said in a statement in an apparent reference to Pashinian.
Justice Minister Srbuhi Galian described Gevorgian’s death as an unfortunate incident, saying that such cases occur both inside and outside penitentiary institutions. She said Gevorgian had not previously reported any health problems or complained of feeling unwell while in custody.
Government officials have rejected the opposition’s allegations that Gevorgian’s arrest and detention were politically motivated.
Hundreds of Strong Armenia activists were also arrested during the campaign ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections. Opposition representatives accused the authorities of politically motivated prosecutions as the Investigative Committee regularly released recordings of alleged conversations involving opposition figures, claiming that the party was engaged in vote-buying. Representatives of the ruling party made similar accusations.
Gevorgian’s death is the latest in a series of cases involving deaths in custody or state institutions that have drawn public attention in Armenia. Four years ago, opposition-minded film producer Armen Grigorian died suddenly during a court hearing. Earlier this year, Armen Hovannisian, who had been detained for tearing down an election poster belonging to the ruling Civil Contract party, reportedly committed suicide in a psychiatric hospital. Armenian human rights advocates argued that the man’s actions should, at most, have been treated as an administrative offense punishable by a fine.