Robert Kocharyan condemns Samvel Karapetyan's detention

Second Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has condemned the detention of prominent businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan as a “national disgrace” and a sign of deepening authoritarianism in the country.

“The incident involving Samvel Karapetyan was yet another shameful act by the regime’s puppet judiciary,” Kocharyan said in a statement on Thursday. “It’s a national disgrace when a major investor and philanthropist, whose contributions are visible both in Armenia and the diaspora, is imprisoned without any legal basis, simply for standing in defense of the Armenian Apostolic Church.”

The ex-president warned that the country is sliding rapidly toward totalitarianism, with potentially dangerous consequences for Armenian statehood and called for a change of power in the country to stop it.

“I wished resilience to Samvel Karapetyan and believe that the time is near when all anti-national and unlawful actions will come to an end,” Kocharyan concluded.