Armenian court rejects detention request for Samvel Karapetyan, orders house arrest – lawyer

An Armenian court on Saturday rejected prosecutors’ request to detain businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, instead placing him under house arrest with bail and travel restrictions, his lawyer said.

“The motion to impose detention as a preventive measure was denied; house arrest was applied,” Aram Vardevanyan said after a marathon hearing lasting about 14 hours. He added that restrictions on Karapetyan’s public statements were lifted.

Vardevanyan said the court ruled that continued pretrial detention could not be justified despite the prosecutors’ appeal. The defense has described the case as politically motivated.

Karapetyan had been held in pretrial detention since June 18, 2025. That measure was replaced by house arrest with additional conditions on December 30. Prosecutors filed an appeal seeking his renewed detention on January 5, the first working day of the year.

The appellate court accepted both the prosecution’s and defense appeals on January 12 and scheduled its ruling for January 16.