A large number of police forces have been dispatched to the courtyard of the Anti-Corruption Court of Armenia ahead of the hearing of the motion to extend the detention of businessman Samvel Karapetyan, the Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent reports from the scene.

The hearing of this motion is scheduled to begin at 5:30pm in the Anti-Corruption Court.

Karapetyan’s supporters have assembled in the courtyard of this courthouse.

Samvel Karapetyan was arrested on June 18 for a two-month period. He is charged with seizing power and publicly calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order. Karapetyan denies the charges, and his defense team claims that the charges against him are unfounded.

Karapetyan was detained for making a statement supporting the Armenian Apostolic Church. Referring to the relations between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian authorities, he had told Armenian News-NEWS.am as follows, in particular: “A small group, forgetting the Armenian history, the thousands of years history of the Armenian Church, has attacked the Armenian [Apostolic] Church, the Armenian people. I have always stood with the Armenian [Apostolic] Church and the Armenian people. If the politicians do not succeed, then we will intervene in the campaign against the [Armenian Apostolic] Church in our own way.”