Samvel Karapetyan has been taken to the Avan seat of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction for a hearing on the motion to place him under arrest. Though the venue has been identified, there is no official confirmation on the case assignment yet, according to “Pastinfo.”

Previous cases have seen hearings relocated to other venues to secure preferred outcomes, and a similar decision is not ruled out in this instance. At present, substantial police presence has been deployed near the Avan courthouse.

Karapetyan’s supporters have gathered outside the court building. The defense has yet to review the detention motion, though Karapetyan has already been transferred from the Investigative Committee to the court.

In the early hours of June 18, Karapetyan left his Yerevan residence accompanied by law enforcement. Hours earlier, he had made a public statement in support of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“I stand with our Church and people. No matter the defamation attempts, I don’t care about the electric networks or those behind them. Everything will be fine, and the people will make their voices heard. They will understand they made a mistake,” he declared.

Responding to Karapetyan’s remarks, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote: “Why have the immoral ‘clergymen’ and their immoral ‘benefactors’ become so active? No matter—we’ll silence them again. This time for good.” He later added that the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) must be nationalized promptly.