Samvel Karapetyan`s defense to appeal court`s decision in special  review procedure

ArmInfo. The lawyers of philanthropist and businessman Samvel Karapetyan intend to appeal the decision of the Anti-Corruption Court to extend Karapetyan's arrest  for a period of 2 months. This was reported to journalists by lawyer  Liana Gasparyan.

"The most surprising thing is that when considering the charges  brought, the court found that, in fact, only the first charge,  concerning conscription, contains reasonable suspicions, while in  other charges brought against Mr. Karapetyan, it recorded the absence  of reasonable suspicion. The risk of escape and obstruction of the  case was recorded as the basis for the arrest. The court excluded the  risk of committing a new act as a basis," Gasparyan said.

The defense intends to appeal to the Criminal Court of Appeal on  August 15 with a complaint for a special review of the court's  decision. Let us recall that Samvel Karapetyan was detained on the  night of June 18 in Yerevan by law enforcement agencies of Armenia  after he expressed support for the Armenian Apostolic Church. In  response to this, there were open threats from the Prime Minister. On  the night of June 19, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction  arrested Samvel Karapetyan for two months. He is being held in the  Yerevan-Kentron Penitentiary Institution (the well-known "KGB  basement" in the building of the National Security Service of  Armenia). He is accused of publicly calling for the seizure of power  in the country.  Karapetyan does not admit guilt. In addition, in  July, the head of the Tashir Group of Companies was charged with new  charges of money laundering. On August 15, the Anti-Corruption Court,  early in the morning, after almost 10 hours of considering the  investigator's petition, extended Karapetyan's arrest.