During an interview with reporters before the start of Friday’s court session, Armenian public and political figure Avetik Chalabyan announced that he will be again arrested today and that this is a political persecution.

"I was released yesterday because the term of detention expired. Yes, this is persecution by [PM] Nikol Pashinyan. I don't want to make any statement about his personal reasons today. Eventually, it will become known to the public. But there is no doubt that this is a political persecution, that this extends to other members of my family," Chalabyan said, and added that since this "interference" is illegal, the time will come and the guilty will answer for what they have done.

And reflecting on the criminal case against him, Chalabyan said: "This is just a bubble, a made-up case the only purpose of which has been to illegally deprive me of my freedom. The decisions to arrest me and extend my arrest are illegal. For that, my lawyers have already initiated disciplinary proceedings against the judge, the infamous Arusyak Aleksanyan, who made those decisions."

Avetik Chalabyan is charged with making university students materially interested in order to participate in opposition demonstrations.