The Council for the Defense of businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, who was arrested for two months, released a new statement titled “What the current authorities have achieved,” declaring that “the political arena has turned into a circus.”

“The political field has become a circus. The National Assembly has turned into a boxing ring. Unable to handle objective criticism—especially from strong female politicians like Anna Grigoryan, Kristine Vardanyan, Agnessa Khamoyan, Anna Mkrtchyan, Taguhi Tovmasyan, and others—a small group, lacking any real answers, periodically resorts to physical confrontations with politicians who defend these women.

Let me clarify who this small group is. It is the ill-mannered, disrespectful wing of the Civil Contract party, ever ready to tear down national values and desecrate sacred symbols at the slightest challenge.

I am sure there are decent individuals within that group who also find all this disgusting and unpleasant. I advise them not to fear, not to forget simple human values, and not to become cursed by the Armenian people. It doesn’t take much—just the courage to face our people and say: ‘I am Armenian.’ Soon we will achieve inner unity. We will fight. To be continued…”

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.