Samvel Karapetyan remanded in custody for one month as defence alleges political ruling
- Published
- Place
- Yerevan, Armenia
- Event date
- Past event —
Summary
Yerevan’s anti-corruption court ordered on the morning of Thursday 5 November that Samvel Karapetyan be held in custody for one month. The Russian-Armenian businessman, who leads the opposition Strong Armenia party, had been charged the day before in the case of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), his company, where investigators put the damage at 64.5 billion drams. The hearing, chaired by judge Levon Petrosyan, lasted all night. The defence will appeal and calls the decision illegal and political. It notes that the house arrest ordered in another case still applies, so two measures now run at the same time. Strong Armenia accuses Nikol Pashinyan of using the courts against the opposition, which is uniting against his plan for a new constitution. The same morning, the detention of Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of Prosperous Armenia, was extended by three months.
Analysis
The ruling targets the opposition’s main financial backer just as it tries to unite against the government. The ENA file concerns specific economic acts that investigators will have to prove in court. But the timing feeds the narrative of a judicial campaign against the prime minister’s opponents. With Samvel Karapetyan and Gagik Tsarukyan behind bars, two leading opposition figures are now out of the political field.
Possible consequences
The defence has a set period to take the case to the appeals court. The 35 other people prosecuted in the ENA case may face separate measures.
