Samvel Karapetyan has been arrested after siding with the Armenian Apostolic Church against the country’s leadership
Armenia’s leadership has turned politics into a confrontational circus, a Russian-Armenian businessman currently detained by the government has claimed.
Samvel Karapetyan, who holds both Russian and Armenian citizenship and has a net worth of some $5 billion, was arrested in Yerevan last week after voicing support for the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) in an ongoing conflict with the country’s authorities, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Karapetyan faces charges of calling for the overthrow of the government and has been placed in pre-trial detention for two months as part of a case his supporters insist is politically motivated.
In a Facebook post published on Tuesday, Karapetyan accused a group within Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party of being ready “at a moment’s notice” to trample on the country’s core values, claiming they lack “decency or respect” and “attack strong women in politics simply because they don’t tolerate criticism.”
Karapetyan said he believed there are decent individuals even within the group and urged them “not to be afraid, not to forget simple human values, and not to become cursed by their own people.”
The tycoon’s arrest stems from an ongoing conflict between the AAC and the government. Pashinyan initially launched an attack on the country’s national church, which boasts some 3 million followers at home and a sizeable diasporic congregation, accusing it of corruption.
The prime minister accused the head of the institution, Catholicos Garegin II, of breaching his vow of celibacy and urged him to step down. The church firmly rejected the allegations and suggested Pashinyan was acting on behalf of foreign “Armenophobic” interests.
Karapetyan was taken into custody on June 18, a day after declaring his support for the AAC to reporters.
“I have always been on the side of the Armenian Church and the Armenian people. If the politicians fail, we will intervene in the campaign against the Church in our own way.”
Following Karapetyan’s remarks, Pashinyan reportedly vowed to shut down the businessman’s operations in Armenia “for good.” On Tuesday, he threatened to nationalize Electric Networks of Armenia – a major utility owned by the Russian-Armenian tycoon.
Karapetyan’s arrest has sparked widespread criticism, including from figures in the Armenian diaspora and the Orthodox community in the country and abroad.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow is monitoring the situation and would assist Karapetyan if needed. “For us, he is a Russian citizen,” Peskov told reporters, while adding that Russia did not wish to interfere in Armenia’s internal affairs.
