Lawyers File Special Review Appeal in Samvel Karapetyan's Case

Samvel Karapetyan has been arrested by an evidently unfounded and illegal decision on June 18, 2025. This was stated by the legal team of Samvel Karapetyan.

On August 14, 2025, Judge T. Davtyan of the Anti-Corruption Court examined the request for the extension of detention. “Despite the fact that the examination of the request and the publication of the judicial act lasted about 10 hours, even under the conditions where there was a complete absence of sufficient suspicion regarding the alleged money laundering and economic crimes, the detention was extended for two months. In other words, following the speech defending the Mother See on June 17, which law enforcement considers a medium gravity offense, Samvel Karapetyan, who has displayed behavior worthy of a reputable citizen and has never previously been tarnished, has now been detained for more than 60 days,” the statement reads.

The created legal absurdity not only contradicts the provisions of Armenia's criminal procedure code, the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court but also violated the precedents set by the European Court of Human Rights. It is also noteworthy that for the speech presented in the videos, two criminal proceedings filed again in June 2025 were sent to the Court within 20 days with an indictment, while in this case, it has been more than 60 days under the so-called investigation. This means that law enforcement has completely undermined the obligation to maintain proper diligence and the presumption of freedom, which was recently recorded by the Constitutional Court.

The current situation provides undeniable evidence of the evident and direct existence of political persecution. A special review appeal against the evidently illegal extension of Samvel Karapetyan's detention was filed by the legal team in the Appeals Anti-Corruption Court on August 18, 2025.