The detention of Russian Armenian entrepreneur and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan has been extended by 30 days. This decision was made by the Anti-Corruption Court of Armenia.

“The court recorded today that both the second and third episodes of the charge have not even crossed the threshold of reasonable doubt. And as for the calls, the notion seems to be that that this one month is being extended based on the logic that ‘either finish this case and send [it] to court, or end [it] altogether,’” said Karapetyan’s defense attorney Aram Vardevanyan, and emphasized that the investigator’s petition was thus only partially granted.

On June 17, a search was conducted at Samvel Karapetyan’s home after he publicly expressed support for the Armenian Apostolic Church, stressing that a small group, forgetting Armenian history and the millennia-old history of the Armenian Apostolic Church, had attacked the Church and the Armenian people. Karapetyan was arrested for two months on June 18. And on August 15, the Anti-Corruption Court had extended Samvel Karapetyan’s detention for another two months.