Samvel Karapetyan transferred to Yerevan-Center facility

PanARMENIAN.Net - Samvel Karapetyan has been transferred from Armavir pre-trial detention center to the “Yerevan-Center” facility, according to Nona Navikyan, head of the Public Relations Department at the Ministry of Justice’s Penitentiary Service, as reported by FactInfo. The reasons cited were “official necessity,” though details remain undisclosed. Karapetyan’s visits are now limited strictly to family members and his lawyers. Given Yerevan-Center’s reputation for severe conditions, reports suggest his isolation may further intensify.

On the night of June 18, businessman Samvel Karapetyan left his Yerevan residence with law enforcement. He was later revealed to be under questioning at the Investigative Committee and was detained for two months that evening, charged with making a public call to usurp the powers of the Armenian government.

A few hours earlier, Karapetyan had issued a statement supporting the Armenian Apostolic Church: “I am with our Church, with our people. No matter how hard they try to discredit it, no power network... I don’t care about them or their electric grid. Everything will be fine. The people will speak, and they will understand their mistake.”

In response, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan posted: “Why have the immoral ‘clergymen’ and their immoral ‘benefactors’ become active? No worries — we will silence them again. Permanently.” He later added that the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) should be nationalized swiftly.