The court hearing to extend the pretrial detention of businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan has been postponed. The hearing will resume today at 3:00 PM. Lawyer Aram Vardevanyan told reporters in the courtyard of the Anti-Corruption Court.
“The court hearing began, perhaps, 20 minutes late. Although we have an investigative team of 53 investigators, they were unable to arrive on time. The motion was filed by the investigator, if you can call it a motion. The investigator simply read out a motion that has nothing to do with Samvel Karapetyan. In this regard, our work is doubly difficult when it comes to judicial practice; that’s a completely different story. “They could have read Mkhitar Gosh’s ‘Court Book,’ it would have been more interesting,” Vardevanyan said.
It’s worth noting that the hearing on extending the detention of businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan in the Anti-Corruption Court lasted approximately eight hours. Thousands of citizens continued to remain in the courtyard, supporting Samvel Karapetyan. Family members, friends, and numerous supporters of Karapetyan were also present.
It’s worth noting that on June 17, Samvel Karapetyan’s home was searched after he publicly expressed support for the Armenian Apostolic Church, emphasizing that “a small group, forgetting the history of Armenia, the history of the Armenian Church for millennia, attacked the Armenian Church, the Armenian people.” Karapetyan was detained for two months on June 18. On August 15, Anti-Corruption Court Judge Tigran Davtyan extended Samvel Karapetyan’s detention for two months. Today at 6:00 PM, a hearing on extending Karapetyan’s pretrial detention began.
It’s also worth noting that the charges against Samvel Karapetyan have been amended.
“The charges have been amended and supplemented by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Part 3 of Article 296 of the Criminal Code (money laundering on an especially large scale using official or official powers or influence obtained thereby),” the Criminal Investigation Department reported.