Samvel Karapetyan's lawyers prepare to file complaint against Armenia with ECHR

YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. The defense lawyers of Russia-based businessperson and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, president of Tashir Group, will file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), said one of his lawyers, Armen Ferroyan.

Karapetyan was arrested last week for two months and charged with publicly calling for a “seizure of power.”

Ferroyan said that the clearly illegal decision to arrest Karapetyan on trumped-up criminal charges was appealed on June 19 at the Criminal Court of Appeal.

“With unprecedented speed and, in my opinion, as a result of illegal interference, the case was referred to the Criminal Court of Appeal and handed over to Judge Armen Danielyan,” Feroyan said.

According to the lawyer, given that Judge Danielyan has had the lowest rating among judges for decades and has been most often recused, and that he lacks a perception of fair justice, a decision was made together with the client to withdraw the appeal in accordance with the procedure provided by law.

“The relevant statement (to withdraw the appeal) has already been submitted to the Criminal Court of Appeal and is subject to immediate consideration,” Feroian said.

He noted that domestic legal remedies are ineffective (exhausted), which is grounds for filing a complaint with the ECHR.

“The necessary preparatory actions by the team of lawyers for the immediate filing of a complaint with the ECHR are almost complete. Information on this will be provided additionally,” Ferroyan said in a statement.  

On June 19, Karapetyan visited the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church in connection with the attacks by the Armenian authorities on the top hierarchs of the Church to express his support to the Patriarch.

He noted that the current unacceptable situation would be resolved through the participation of political figures. “If politicians fail, we will participate in our own way,” Karapetyan said.

Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote several harsh posts on social media about Karapetyan. A few hours later, Karapetyan was detained by security forces at his mansion in Yerevan. As part of the criminal case, he was charged with “public calls to seize power.”

By court order, he was arrested for two months. Karapetyan's lawyers say that their client does not admit the charges and have filed a motion to appeal the arrest. -0-