Businessman Samvel Karapetyan has been in detention since June 18, based on decisions by Judges Artak Karapetyan and Armen Danielyan—both ranked among the lowest in Armenia’s judicial rating system. The information was shared by lawyer Aram Vardevanyan on his Facebook page.
According to Vardevanyan, the judges ruled that Karapetyan’s use of the phrase “participating in our own way” in a pro-Church interview could be interpreted as a public call to seize power.
“This is truly absurd and clearly politically motivated persecution, but it is the reality. These judges have kept Karapetyan detained for over 45 days based on such reasoning,” he wrote.
He added that a review of the HelpCourt rating system shows that these two judges hold the lowest rankings among their peers.
Vardevanyan also reminded that disciplinary complaints were filed against both judges back on July 18, but there has been no public update on the proceedings.
Karapetyan was arrested for two months and placed in the Armavir penitentiary on charges of “public calls to usurp government powers.” Just hours earlier, he had voiced support for the Armenian Apostolic Church, stating: “I stand with our church, with our people… Everything will be fine, the people will speak, and they’ll realize they were wrong.”
In response, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote: “Why have the wicked clergymen and their wicked benefactors become active again? No worries, we’ll silence them again. This time for good.” He later added that the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) should be nationalized immediately.
