Khachatrian headed Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) from 2008-2014 and served as finance minister from 2014-2016. He was first indicted in 2019, arrested in 2020 and freed on bail the following year.
The 70-year-old, who suffers from a serious spinal condition, was arrested again on September 1 after investigators brought more corruption charges against him. A video of the arrest released by his lawyers showed him groaning in pain while being placed by National Security Service (NSS) officers onto a stretcher. He has since attended court hearings lying on a gurney.
The lawyers have decried what they see as inhuman treatment of their client. Law-enforcement authorities deny that he is too sick to be held in detention. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has likewise cast doubt on the gravity of Khachatrian’s disease.
One of the lawyers, Yerem Sargsian, criticized the court’s decision to let the authorities keep Khachatrian under arrest. He said that the ex-minister lacks adequate medical care in prison.
“At the very least, it should have been house arrest because his sole objective is to be able to receive medical treatment, to have care provided by his family members, visits by doctors and the ability to exercise so that some of his muscle strength can be regained and the pressure sores can heal,” Sargsian told reporters.
Armenia - Former Finance Minister Gagik Khachatrian is brought to a court in Yerevan, September 2, 2026.
Khachatrian was dogged by corruption allegations throughout his tenure, with critics accusing him of using his position to become one of Armenia’s richest men. They pointed to his family’s extensive business interests that include one of the country’s three main telecommunication operators and a shopping mall. Khachatrian denied ownership of these and other businesses, saying that they belong to his two sons and other relatives.
The Investigative Committee also searched Khachatrian’s villa on September 1, confiscating luxury watches, jewelry items and some 70 paintings which it then deposited with Armenia’s National Art Gallery for safekeeping. The state museum controversially exhibited them for several days later in September.
Khachatrian’s lawyers condemned the exhibition, opened by the head of the Investigative Committee as well as Armenia’s prosecutor-general and education minister, as a gross violation of his property rights. They argued that Khachatrian has not yet been convicted of any crimes.