Complete inaction by 53 investigators in Samvel Karapetyan’s case – Aram Vardevanyan

Since June 18, 2025, Samvel Karapetyan has been under unlawful arrest. The only “basis” for his arrest over the course of five months was his public statement about the participation in defending the Armenian Apostolic Church, lawyer Aram Vardevanyan said on his Facebook page.

“By the decision of November 18, 2025, the sole basis for the arrest was recognized as the risk of obstruction. However, according to the Constitutional and Cassation Courts, as well as the long-standing and consistent precedent of the European Court, this risk can be prevented by other preventive measures. In other words, the court did not find any other risks, yet still applied arrest. The mentioned court decision was appealed on November 21, 2025. Our complaint was assigned to Judge Zh. Meliksetyan of the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal.

Direct evidence of authoritarian approaches and political persecution is the more than five-month unlawful arrest of Samvel Karapetyan, as well as the fact that no other preventive measure has been applied against him to this day, while the group of 53 investigators has effectively failed to conduct the preliminary investigation properly. After the decision of November 18, 2025, numerous motions were submitted to this investigative group to carry out procedural actions to ensure due diligence rather than negligence, yet we see resolute inaction,” the lawyer said.