Avetik Chalabyan's wife calls arrest politically motivated

The wife of Armenian opposition activist and public figure Avetik Chalabyan said authorities detained her husband early on Wednesday morning following a search of their home, describing the operation as a politically motivated attempt to sideline him ahead of a key constitutional court hearing.

In a video posted on social media, Anahit Adamyan, Chalabyan’s wife, said investigators and police officers arrived at the family residence at approximately 7:10 a.m. while they were asleep.

“They searched the apartment but found nothing. They seized Avetik’s mobile phone and then detained him,” the woman said.

According to Adamyan, the officers had all necessary legal documents, indicating that the detention had been planned in advance.

“They came prepared with paperwork, which shows they had already decided to arrest him,” she said.

Adamyan described the detention as an act of political persecution and suggested it was intended to isolate Chalabyan before a June 26 hearing at Armenia’s Constitutional Court concerning a challenge to the parliamentary election results.

Earlier on Wednesday, reports emerged that Chalabyan, coordinator of the Hayakve civic initiative, had been detained by Armenian law enforcement authorities.

The Investigative Committee confirmed to Panorama.am that Chalabyan had been arrested as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. Authorities did not immediately provide further details regarding the allegations or legal grounds for the detention.