A series of deaths recorded in Armenia’s penitentiary system point to serious systemic problems, according to experts.

In 2025, 24 deaths of convicts and detainees were recorded in penitentiary institutions, indicating systemic issues, said Sergei Gabrielyan, head of the public monitoring group overseeing penitentiary institutions under the Ministry of Justice. He made the statement during a discussion titled “The right to health protection in the army and penitentiary system” held at the Media Center.

According to him, over the past year, the monitoring group received more than 180 complaints, about 80 percent of which were related to health issues — delays in medical care, delays in transfers to civilian hospitals, inadequate treatment, and problems with the provision of medication, Panorama.am reports.

Gabrielyan noted that they had repeatedly appealed to the Ministries of Justice and Health, as well as to the Prime Minister’s Office, raising these issues. However, responses were partial, and several questions remained unanswered.

“A similarly high number of deaths in penitentiary institutions was recorded in 2016, when there were 29 deaths. In 2024, 12 deaths were recorded, all classified as biological deaths. In 2025, 24 deaths were registered, of which 8 were suicides and 16 were biological deaths, but these cases raise many questions. Who is responsible for these deaths? Our questions have remained unanswered. A person was in a penitentiary institution, and now that person is gone — yet there is no information about the developments that led to their death,” Gabrielyan said.

Albert Danielyan, chief specialist of the Department for the Protection of the Rights of Servicemen and Their Family Members at the Ombudsman’s Office, also expressed concern, noting that deaths in closed institutions have doubled over the past year, while recent years have seen the highest level of suicides.

“We have not had such a high number of suicides — in 2011 and 2016 there were 7 cases. This indicates that the competent authorities have failed to properly investigate the causes of deaths and suicides recorded in penitentiary institutions,” the ombudsman’s representative said.