Samvel Karapetyan case `political persecution` 

ArmInfo.  Criminal case against philanthropist, president of the State Corporation Tashir: Samvel Karapetyan has a special specificity - there is no corpus delicti in it at all. This assessment was made by lawyer Aram Vardevanyan on July 2 at a press conference.

The lawyer recalled that on June 17, 2025, Karapetyan gave an  interview to one of the media outlets, in which he expressed his  concern about the harsh campaign against the Armenian Apostolic  Church.

In particular, in an interview lasting just over one minute,  answering the question of what is his opinion regarding the campaign  against the Armenian Church, the famous businessman answered: "What  opinion should I have if a small group, forgetting the history of  Armenia, the thousand-year history of the Armenian Church, attacked  the Church, the Armenian people? Since I have always been close to  the Armenian Church and the people, I will take direct part: If the  politicians fail, we will take part in all this in our own way."

"Unlike other high-profile criminal cases, this case has one  peculiarity - it has absolutely no criminal case, since the act is  incriminated, which implies a clear call to seize power, meanwhile in  this case there is no call. That is, we have a criminal case  concerning the call in the absence of one," said Aram Vardevanyan.

This legal absurdity, according to him, was formed as a result of the  records of the head of the executive body in the person of Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan, including those aimed at reprisals against  Samvel Karapetyan. The promise of settling scores on the part of a  politician, about criminal prosecution is something unprecedented in  European politics, the lawyer noted. "Starting from this moment, we  are recording factual data on the political persecution that began on  June 17," the lawyer pointed out.

Immediately after the publication of this interview with Karapetyan,  Pashinyan made several posts on the social network, in particular the  following content: "Why have the lustful 'clergy' and their lustful  'benefactors' become more active? No matter, we will deactivate them  again. And foreve, This is not the village of Nizhny Tapir in Kaluga.  This is the Republic of Armenia. I hope the taste of the state will  remain in your mouth." "He says we will interfere in our own way. Now  I will interfere in you in my own way, you bastard. Or rather, in  you."

We 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, open  threats followed from the Prime Minister. On the night of June 19,  the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction arrested President  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.