Samvel Karapetyan to remain under arrest

ArmInfo. Businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, president of the Tashir Group, will spend another two months in custody. The Anti-Corruption Court made this decision on November 18.

In a conversation with journalists, lawyer Aram Vardevanyan pointed  to a publication in the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, which is owned  by the family of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The publication  explicitly stated that Karapetyan's detention had been extended by  two months. Moreover, this was done at 6:00 PM and remained in effect  until 11:00 PM, long before the court's decision today. "It's unclear  why all this was staged if everything was predetermined, despite  hours of discussions and the large number of citizens and media  representatives waiting outside the courthouse," the lawyer noted.

He added that he had brought this publication to the court's  attention, to which the judge responded with indignation, asking how  he, a judge, could predict media publications. "Meanwhile, these  predictions have come true, one in every one of them. Just as on June  17, 2025, the highest official in the country predetermined the  actions of law enforcement agencies against Samvel Karapetyan, so too  today the newspaper 'Haykakan Zhamanak' predetermined the court's  decision. I have never seen anything like this in the Republic of  Armenia, which speaks to the frivolity of the situation," Aram  Vardevanyan noted.

As a reminder, on October 13, the Investigative Committee announced a  change to the charges against Samvel Karapetyan, adding paragraphs 2  and 3 of Part 3 of Article 296 of the Criminal Code (large-scale  money laundering through the use of official or official powers or  acquired influence).

On June 18, law enforcement officers detained Samvel Karapetyan, and  a court later remanded him in custody on charges of calling for the  overthrow of the constitutional order solely because he, speaking in  defense of the Armenian Apostolic Church, stated in an interview: "We  will intervene in our own way if politicians fail to fulfill this  function." Notably, Karapetyan's arrest was preceded by threatening  posts from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which lawyers view as an  attempt to directly interfere with the investigation and law  enforcement. Following Karapetyan's arrest, the authorities  effectively took over the management of the ESA from the Karapetyan  family, appointing Romanos Petrosyan, a member of the Civil Contract  party, as its manager.