Opposition figures blamed the government led by Pashinyan for the death of a Strong Armenia representative in prison.

ArmInfo. Opposition figures responded to the death of Arsen Gevorgyan, mayoral candidate for the Stepanavan community from the Strong Armenia party, in the Nubarashen penitentiary institution, placing full responsibility on the authorities led by Nikol Pashinyan.

Democratic Alternative party leader Suren Surenyants called the politician's death a tragedy, a consequence of political persecution, revenge, and vendetta by Nikol Pashinyan's government.

"This is yet another serious reminder of the tragic consequences of political revenge. We demand a full, independent, and impartial investigation into all the circumstances of Arsen's death. "The Democratic Alternative Party expresses its deepest condolences to Arsen's family, his relatives, party members, and fellow fighters," the politician wrote on his Facebook page.

Human rights activist Ruben Melikyan, in turn, expressed shock at the news. "I am shocked by this terrible news. The tyrannical regime imprisoned this man 20 days ago solely for political reasons, with the goal of an easy victory in the Stepanavan mayoral election," he noted.

Country to  Live Party representative Mane Tandilyan stated that as a result of this government's vile actions, another human life has been cut short. "How many cases have been recorded in the last year alone where people have been detained for cases unrelated to serious crimes? What is this if not murder for political dissent?" Using detention as a preventative measure is punishment when it is unjustified. In the case of these authorities, it's an obituary for political opponents. In another case, it's a murder right under their noses: "The judicial system of this country must answer for its actions. Who does it ultimately serve? Pashinyan's agenda or the law. Stop playing with human destinies," the politician noted.

According to her, the untimely death of Arsen Gevorgyan will weigh heavily on the conscience of the current authorities and the judicial system, which serves their political agenda. Tandelyan expressed her conviction that this is a tragedy, the circumstances of which must be thoroughly and impartially investigated.

And a member of the Armenian parliament from the opposition "Armenia" faction, In a post on her Facebook page, Kristine Vardanyan emphasized that responsibility for Arsen Gevorkyan's death lies not only with the person who ordered his arrest and made the decision to detain him, but also with all those who mock people's health issues.

"You killed a man today. Every time a petition is filed to release someone from custody due to the accused's health condition, there are always people who mock the person's health and ignore medical data. As a result, the detainees themselves begin to refrain from talking about these issues, so as not to create a different impression, and this happens," she wrote.

Earlier, the party's head of communications and public relations, Nelly Avetisyan, confirmed to ArmInfo that Arsen Gevorkyan died in pretrial detention. According to Armenian media reports, he suffered a heart attack.

On October 21, the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia opened a criminal case against Arsen Gevorgyan, who headed the Strong Armenia party's proportional list in the Stepanavan Municipal Council elections, and 13 other individuals. It was later reported that the court ordered Gevorgyan arrested for two months. Five more individuals were placed under two-month arrest or house arrest. It is noteworthy that the day before these events, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered to write to him personally to those citizens and community head candidates in the local government elections who were under pressure from the ruling Civil Contract party. However, by the evening of that same day, he himself began threatening representatives of the opposition. It is worth noting that all of this occurred before the local government elections in Stepanavan.