Thirteen months ago, I was charged with three charges. One for defending the [Armenian Apostolic] Church “in our way,” which I’m proud of, and two charges that I consider to be hooliganism against the law by the investigators and the prosecutor. The leader of the opposition Strong Armenia Alliance, Samvel Karapetyan, stated this in the courtroom Thursday.

“I simply have absolutely nothing to do with the issues on which I was charged. That is, I still didn’t understand what I’m being charged with, after 13 months of dozens of court hearings. Therefore, I believe that the court should examine these issues in more depth. I believe that if I deserved to be arrested and serve time in a prison cell for defending the [Armenian Apostolic] Church ‘in our way,’ I’m proud of that. The rest is up to you to decide. My lawyers presented everything, but I would like you to examine these charges in more depth during future sessions," Karapetyan said.