Businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, currently under two-month detention, released the eighth part of his public statement through his legal team. He strongly criticized the Armenian authorities, claiming that “fundamental values that once united society have been eroded.”

“What the current government achieved:

In the Republic of Armenia, core values that unite people have been severely damaged. Brave fighters are now called deserters, hero soldiers have become isolated individuals with disabilities, heroic mothers are seen as grieving protestors, lifelong Artsakh defenders are turned into homeless refugees, and the youth and students are lost and directionless, with emigration as their only vision of the future.

Business and the private sector are treated as resources to exploit, and entrepreneurs as enemies. This has nearly destroyed Armenia’s internal investment environment. Over the past seven years, this has resulted in the emergence of mostly zero value-added companies and made the country unappealing to foreign investors.

The current authorities have sought to isolate journalists who fulfill their mission honorably, to silence legitimate speech and criticism, flooding the public discourse with garbage. They managed to create a climate of fear through vulgarity, to the point where Armenian men, for the first time, felt powerless to defend the dignity of their wives and daughters.

It is clear—we will turn Armenia into a prosperous nation. Poverty will become a word of the past. And the public arena will be cleansed of vulgar filth. We will fight,” the statement reads.

On June 18, Samvel Karapetyan was arrested for two months and placed in Armavir penitentiary after making public calls allegedly aimed at “seizing power.”

A few hours prior to detention, Karapetyan had expressed support for the Armenian Apostolic Church: “I stand with our Church and people. No matter how much they try to defame us, I don’t care about their electric grids or anything else. Everything will be fine—the people will speak up, and they will realize they were wrong.”

In response, Prime Minister Pashinyan wrote: “Why have the ‘depraved clergy’ and their ‘depraved benefactors’ become active again? No worries—we’ll silence them again. For good.” He later added that the electric network should be nationalized immediately.