Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of downtown Yerevan on Friday demanding the release of Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, whose arrest two weeks ago followed his public denunciation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The protest march, led by Karapetyan’s relatives, opposition lawmakers, and senior clergy, began in a central park and culminated outside the National Security Service (NSS) headquarters, which doubles as a high-security prison. Chants of “Samvel!” and “Freedom!” echoed through the streets as the crowd made its way through the capital.
Karapetyan, in a message read aloud by his attorney, expressed gratitude for the public support and called for unity against Pashinyan’s rule. He urged Armenians to rally around a new political movement aimed at removing the current leadership.
“With their presence, the people are showing that it is the authorities—not I—who are truly imprisoned,” the tycoon declared.
While protest organizers did not lay out concrete plans for the future, Karapetyan’s nephew, Narek, called the rally “just the beginning of a long journey.”
From his prison cell, Karapetyan has issued nearly a dozen statements attacking the Pashinyan administration. He has accused the prime minister of endangering Armenia’s security, destroying relations with Russia, and appeasing the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey. His arrest came shortly after his June 17 declaration in defense of the Church, in which he vowed to resist efforts to unseat the clergy.
That statement triggered an angry response from Pashinyan, who fired off a series of combative social media posts. “Now I will interfere with you in my own way, you scoundrel,” the prime minister wrote—just hours before Karapetyan was detained and charged with inciting violent regime change.
Karapetyan’s legal team and family have dismissed the charges as politically motivated and pointed to Pashinyan’s public comments as evidence of direct political interference in the case.
Opposition parties have also rallied behind Karapetyan, framing his arrest as part of a broader crackdown on dissent and an attempt to weaken the Church—a powerful institution that has become one of the last bastions of resistance to Pashinyan’s push for concessions to Azerbaijan and Turkey.
“Samvel Karapetyan is behind bars because he stood up for the Armenian Apostolic Church,” said Anna Grigorian, a parliamentarian from the opposition Hayastan Alliance. “And the thousands gathered here today stand with him and with the Church.”
A self-made billionaire with business interests across Russia, Karapetyan, 59, was born in Armenia and is known for his philanthropy, including generous donations to both Armenia and Artsakh. Despite quiet concern voiced by Russian officials, Moscow has refrained from issuing formal calls for his release. Meanwhile, Pashinyan’s allies have gone so far as to accuse Karapetyan of acting on Kremlin orders to destabilize the government.
Even as the state moved to confiscate Karapetyan’s largest Armenian asset—Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA)—he remained publicly defiant. Parliament passed a bill on Wednesday enabling the takeover, and law enforcement raided the offices of his Tashir Group conglomerate, arresting four executives on charges of tax evasion and money laundering.
In his latest message, Karapetyan condemned the Pashinyan government as a “tiny clique” waging war on the Church and vowed to resist.
“We will not allow them to continue this attack on Catholicos Garegin II and our spiritual leadership,” he said, echoing the very words that led to his arrest.
