Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan to be transferred to Izmirlian Medical Center for surgery – legal team

Arrested Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan will be transferred to the Izmirlian Medical Center to undergo surgery, his legal team reported.

“As we have already mentioned, the issue of performing surgery on Archbishop Mikael at his own expense at the Izmirlian Medical Center was raised in a petition to the penitentiary service on October 7, 2025. The penitentiary service forwarded the petition to the Penitentiary Medical Center.

Meanwhile, on October 29, 2025, the Archbishop’s lawyer submitted a written application to the Penitentiary Medical Center, in response to which the director of the center only on November 28, 2025, stated that the Archbishop had refused a free operation. Later, the Minister of Justice tried to explain this situation by saying that the application had not been submitted in the proper format. The applications of the archbishop’s lawyers were not considered as such.

For two months—starting from October 7, 2025—no official clarified in writing that certain formal requirements had to be met, since only in that case would the prisoner’s right to health be taken into account. According to this formal requirement, the arrested person must submit a written application to the head of the medical unit located in the penitentiary institution and also indicate the name and surname of the doctor from the civilian medical institution, the institution where the doctor works, and the doctor’s contact details (phone number, email address).

It is obvious that the arrested person would face difficulties in finding and providing such information. Nevertheless, Archbishop Mikael’s legal team again submitted an application to the Penitentiary Medical Center, presenting the relevant documents.

In response to the above-mentioned application, on December 11, 2025, the director of the Penitentiary Medical Center reported that the application and documents had been sent to the Yerevan-Kentron penitentiary and proposed to organize the surgical intervention prescribed for Archbishop Mikael.

The Archbishop’s defense team expressed gratitude to all concerned individuals, including journalists,” the statement reads.

It was previously reported that the clergyman has serious health problems and is in urgent need of surgical intervention.