Karapetian, 60, dismissed the charges levelled against him as “absurd” during the first court hearing in the high-profile case that lasted for a couple of hours. His lawyers petitioned the court to set him free pending a verdict in the trial, while prosecutors demanded a three-month extension of his house arrest. The presiding judge is expected to announce his decision at the next hearing scheduled for Friday.
The tycoon refused to answer questions from journalists as he was escorted by police officers to and out of the courtroom. His lawyers made sure that journalists are not allowed by the judge to film the opening session of the trial.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Karapetian supporters demonstrated outside the court building in Yerevan in a show of support for the tycoon. They included Gohar Ghumashian, a senior member of Karapetian’s Strong Armenia party who was arrested on Tuesday on vote buying charges strongly denied by her. Another judge released Ghumasian from custody the following morning, rejecting prosecutors’ demands to place her under house arrest.
“Even if they arrest all members of our party, the people will stand with us,” she said, addressing the crowd.
Karapetian was arrested last June hours after condemning Pashinian’s attempts to depose the top clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church and vowing to defend it “in our way.” The statement provoked a series of furious social media posts by Pashinian. The latter pledged to “deactivate” him.
“Now I will interfere with you in my own way, you scoundrel … I hope the taste of the state will remain in your mouth,” Pashinian wrote shortly before Karapetian’s arrest.
Armenia - Samvel Karapetian goes on trial in Yerevan, April 15, 2026.
Karapetian was initially accused of calling for a violent overthrow of the government. Law-enforcement authorities also charged him with tax evasion, fraud and money laundering in July after he decided to run in the June 2026 elections.
His movement, which spawned Strong Armenia earlier this year, has since emerged as one of the country’s leading opposition groups. It held a massive rally in Yerevan on April 11.
Strong Armenia has nominated Karapetian the post of prime minister despite the fact that he is not eligible for the top government job because of his dual Russian citizenship. The party has pledged to remove the constitutional hurdle if it wins the elections.
Karapetian’s lawyers argued in the courtyard that he should be set free in order to be able to hold a pre-election party congress next week. They dismissed witness tampering concerns cited by prosecutors, saying that none of the suspects or witnesses in the case gave incriminating testimony against their client during the pretrial investigation.
“There are also no risks of him committing a crime as he has an enviable biography,” said one of the lawyers, Aram Vartevanian. “Nor is there any risk of him fleeing justice.”
Born and raised in Armenia, Karapetian has mainly lived Russia since the early 1990s, making there a fortune estimated by the Forbes magazine at over $4 billion. He has financed many charity projects in Armenia as well as Nagorno-Karabakh and made lavish donations to the Armenian Church. He never showed an interest in political activities until his arrest.