Vardan Ghukasyan was returned to pretrial detention from the hospital.

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Arrested Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan was transferred from the hospital to a pretrial detention facility. According to his lawyer, the politician's diagnosis is incompatible with detention.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in early November, Ghukasyan was transferred from the Yerevan-Kentron Penitentiary to the Srub Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, where he underwent a coronary angiography. The day after his hospitalization, penitentiary service officers took Ghukasyan from the hospital and took him back to his cell, prompting the defense to claim that Vardan Ghukasyan had been denied medical care. On January 9, he was hospitalized from the pretrial detention center.

On January 17, Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan was transferred from the hospital to the pre-trial detention center of the National Security Service of Armenia, News.am reported, citing his lawyer, Zauri Postanjyan.

According to her, Ghukasyan was diagnosed with a condition incompatible with pre-trial detention, and therefore, his transfer to the pre-trial detention center could be considered a crime, as there is no doctor there, only a nurse.

The lawyer called an ambulance for Ghukasyan, but she was not allowed into the penitentiary.

The "Caucasian Knot" also reported that at the end of November, Vardan Ghukasyan's son, Spartak Ghukasyan, was arrested on charges of hooliganism. On December 6, the defense of the elder Ghukasyan filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office and the ombudsman regarding politically motivated intimidation of the politician's relatives. That day, security forces searched Vardan Ghukasyan's apartment, seizing the mobile phones of his wife, daughter, and two granddaughters.

Along with Vardan Ghukasyan, seven more city hall employees were detained on October 20. . The search of the city administration building was accompanied by a protest by hundreds of residents who came to support the mayor. The protests escalated into clashes with security forces and attempts by those gathered to prevent Ghukasyan's arrest. More than 40 people were detained in connection with the riots. On December 5, it became known that Gyumri Vice Mayor Avetis Arakelyan, who became acting mayor after Ghukasyan’s arrest, and another official were detained in connection with the riots.