RA Investigative Committee on Samvel Karapetyan case 

ArmInfo. Investigative Committee Chairman Artur Poghosyan responded to a question about why the case against Samvel Karapetyan, head of the Tashir Group of Companies, who was arrested on June 18, has not yet been sent to court.

On November 5, at a budget hearing in parliament, Agnessa Khamoyan, a  member of parliament from the opposition Hayastan faction, stated  that the Investigative Committee has been tasked with keeping Samvel  Karapetyan in custody for as long as possible. She noted that 52  investigators are involved in the case, while the Investigative  Committee of Armenia has 811 investigators. Khamoyan also inquired  about whether any investigative actions have been taken with  Karapetyan.

According to Poghosyan, the preliminary investigation is still  ongoing. "The case itself is a colossal criminal investigation-we're  dealing with money laundering, fraud, and tax evasion. That is, the  case is unprecedented in its scale, and we are taking various  actions, and once we complete these actions, a decision will be made  on the outcome of the case," the head of the Investigative Committee  stated.

At the same time, he continued, a colossal amount of investigative  work has been done in Karapetyan's case-approximately 100 searches  were conducted in a single night. However, logically, the  investigators' workload subsequently decreased. The head of the  Investigative Committee also assured that the investigators'  "diligence" is in no way related to the identity of the arrested man.

As a reminder, Samvel Karapetyan was detained on the night of June 18  in Yerevan by Armenian law enforcement agencies after expressing  support for the Armenian Apostolic Church. This was followed by open  threats from the Prime Minister. On the night of June 19, the Yerevan  Court of General Jurisdiction remanded Samvel Karapetyan in custody  for two months. He is being held in the Yerevan-Kentron Penitentiary  (the notorious "KGB basement" in the National Security Service  building). He is accused of publicly calling for the seizure of power  in the country. Karapetyan denies guilt. Furthermore, in July, the  head of the Tashir Group of Companies was charged with new money  laundering. On October 16, 2025, the Anti-Corruption Court partially  granted the investigation team's motion, extending Karapetyan's  pretrial detention for one month. The court once again found a lack  of reasonable suspicion of the economic crimes with which Samvel  Karapetyan was accused in July. The investigative team did not  terminate the case, but apparently included new information in the  motion. Moreover, the court also found that there was no reasonable  grounds for suspicion in the new economic charges brought on October  7, 2025," noted Samvel Karapetyan's defense.