05:49, 15 August 2025

Samvel Karapetyan's arrest extended for two months

Samvel Karapetyan. Screenshot of photo https://www.yerkir.am/hy/article/2025/06/27/295107 from 06/27/25.

The Anti-Corruption Court of Armenia has left businessman Samvel Karapetyan in custody; the ten-hour hearing took place amid a protest. Karapetyan's defense called the decision unfounded.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, searches were conducted on July 2 at the head office of the company belonging to the arrested businessman Samvel Karapetyan. The reason for the searches was a criminal case on tax evasion and money laundering, the Investigative Committee of Armenia stated. The Court of Appeal found Karapetyan's arrest legal, but found his detention illegal.

The owner of Tashir Group, Samvel Karapetyan, has been accused of calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order. Before his arrest, Samvel Karapetyan expressed support for the Armenian Apostolic Church after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan harshly criticized the church at a government meeting on May 29 and responded to Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan's objections with insults on Facebook*. Armenian politicians and church representatives demanded that Pashinyan apologize for insulting the church, according to a report prepared by the "Caucasian Knot" "The Main Thing About Political Arrests in Armenia in June 2025".

After a hearing that lasted about 10 hours, the Armenian Anti-Corruption Court decided to extend the arrest of Russian businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan for 2 months, TASS reported.

"Unfortunately, the court extended the arrest of Samvel Karapetyan for 2 months," the agency quoted lawyer Aram Vardevanyan as saying, calling the accusations against the businessman groundless and political.

“At the meeting of the Anti-Corruption Court regarding the extension of Samvel Karapetyan’s arrest, an investigator made a motion. "He submitted an obviously unfounded motion that did not pass the minimum threshold of validity," one of his lawyers, Aram Vardevanyan, told reporters, Aysor.Am quoted him as saying.

The extension of the arrest of Tashir Group President Samvel Karapetyan is illegal and unlawful, said one of his lawyers, Armen Feroyan.

"It is obvious to everyone that we are dealing with two illegal episodes of prosecution," the Novosti Armenii agency quoted him as saying.

The court hearing took place amid a protest. Samvel Karapetyan's supporters spent several hours outside the courthouse in Yerevan chanting slogans, Izvestia reported.

Blogger Mika Badalyan published a video of the courthouse as of the evening of August 14 on his Telegram channel. The recording shows hundreds of people.

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Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/413830