Lawyer: Samvel Karapetyan unlawfully detained for 70 days

Businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan has been unlawfully detained since June 18 merely for defending the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin during an interview, his lawyer Aram Vardevanyan states.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Vardevanyan recalled that recently the Anti-Corruption Chamber of the Court of Cassation issued a precedent-setting ruling, acknowledging a violation of rights due to the extension of his detention. The court emphasized that the principle of proportionality in criminal proceedings requires the application of alternative preventive measures rather than prolonged detention.

“Moreover, in a ruling on August 4, the Constitutional Court invoked the case law of the European Court of Human Rights for the first time, affirming that the presumption should always be in favor of a detained person's release,” he wrote.

“Despite these legal safeguards and in the absence of any legal grounds, Samvel Karapetyan has been held in detention for nearly 70 days as a result of political persecution,” Vardevanyan added.