Samvel Karapetyan under house arrest

ArmInfo. The pretrial detention of Russian businessman of Armenian descent, head of the Tashir Group of Companies, and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan has been changed from pretrial detention to house arrest. This was announced by the businessman's lawyer, Aram Vardevanyan.

He noted that the court hearing lasted 14 hours, with only one  half-hour break. "The court, headed by Dolmazyan, stated that  pretrial detention cannot be extended as a pretrial detention, no  matter how long the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeals wishes. Samvel  Karapetyan has been placed under house arrest with bail and a ban on  absences," the lawyer stated.

Furthermore, Vardevanyan reported that restrictions on public  speaking have also been lifted. As a reminder, on December 30, the  court changed businessman Karapetyan's pretrial detention to house  arrest.  However, on January 5, the prosecution appealed the verdict,  demanding Karapetyan's return to custody.  The defense, in turn,  appealed the house arrest, demanding the complete lifting of any  measure due to the lack of evidence.

The businessman was detained on June 18 by law enforcement officers,  and the court later remanded him in custody on charges of calling for  the overthrow of the constitutional order due to his support for the  Armenian Apostolic Church. He was later charged with money  laundering. Notably, Karapetyan's arrest was preceded by threatening  posts from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which lawyers consider an  attempt to directly interfere with the investigation and law  enforcement. Following Karapetyan's arrest, the authorities  effectively took over the management of the Eclectic Networks of  Armenia company from the Karapetyan family, appointing Romanos  Petrosyan, a member of the Civil Contract party, as its manager.  ENA  was also stripped of its license.