YEREVAN—Businessman and opposition figure Samvel Karapetian appeared in court on Wednesday for the opening session of a high-profile trial that comes less than two months before Armenia’s parliamentary elections, in which his movement is widely seen as a major challenge to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Karapetian, 60, dismissed the case against him as “absurd” during the first hearing, which lasted several hours. His legal team petitioned the court to release him pending the outcome of the trial, while prosecutors called for his house arrest to be extended by another three months. The presiding judge is expected to announce a decision at the next hearing, scheduled for Friday.
Escorted by police officers into and out of the courtroom, Karapetian did not answer questions from reporters. Journalists were also barred from filming the opening session after objections from his legal team.
Outside the courthouse, hundreds of supporters gathered in a show of solidarity. Among them was Gohar Ghumashian, a senior member of the Strong Armenia party, who had been arrested the previous day on vote-buying allegations that she strongly denied. Another judge ordered her release the following morning, rejecting prosecutors’ request to place her under house arrest.
“Even if they arrest all members of our party, the people will stand with us,” Ghumashian told the crowd assembled outside the court building.
Karapetian was arrested last June, only hours after publicly condemning Pashinyan’s campaign against the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church and pledging to defend the Church “in our way.” His remarks were followed by a series of angry social media posts from Pashinyan, who vowed to “deactivate” him.
“Now I will interfere with you in my own way, you scoundrel … I hope the taste of the state will remain in your mouth,” Pashinyan wrote shortly before Karapetian’s arrest.
Karapetian was initially charged with calling for the violent overthrow of the government. In July, after deciding to take part in the June 2026 parliamentary elections, he was also charged with tax evasion, fraud, and money laundering.
His movement, which earlier this year gave rise to the Strong Armenia party, has since become one of the country’s most prominent opposition forces. On April 11, it drew a massive crowd to a rally in Yerevan.
Although Strong Armenia has nominated Karapetian for prime minister, he is currently barred from holding the office because of his dual Russian citizenship. Party leaders have said they will seek to remove that constitutional restriction if they come to power.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Karapetian’s lawyers argued that he should be freed so he can preside over a pre-election party congress planned for next week. They rejected prosecutors’ claims that he could tamper with witnesses, noting that no suspects or witnesses gave testimony implicating him during the pretrial investigation.
“There are also no risks of him committing a crime as he has an enviable biography,” attorney Aram Vartevanian said. “Nor is there any risk of him fleeing justice.”
Born and raised in Armenia, Karapetian has lived primarily in Russia since the early 1990s, where he built a fortune estimated by Forbes at more than $4 billion. Over the years, he has funded numerous charitable projects in Armenia and Artsakh and made major donations to the Armenian Church. Until his arrest, however, he had shown little direct involvement in politics.
